Injuries are a Good Thing
by katiesquilts
Summary: AU: Sakura joins the volleyball team, and is intrigued by a guy who keeps popping up at practice. She wonders who he is, and is embarassed to find she has feelings for the captain's younger brother! GaaraxSakura complete!
1. Chapter 1

I want to get this over with while I still have volleyball for the year. It'd be a lot easier if I could experience everything and stuff. Not that I have a bad memory. Which I do. Ok, here's my new story!

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Sakura pulled out her gym bag and slammed her locker. Sighing, she joined the line of traffic that was heading towards the double doors at the end of the hallway. Those doors led to the courtyard, where the buses would pick them up. But Sakura wasn't heading to the buses. She was going to cross the street and walk to the gym across the parking lot.

Sakura loved the quick walk, it was much better than taking the stinky, crowded bus. The bus she hadn't had to take for a few years, even since she had gotten into high school. Konoha had a stupid school system. The elementary and high schools were in separate towns, and because Sakura literally lived across the street from the high school, she could walk to school every day. But she had had to take the stupid bus when she was in elementary school.

The pink-haired girl looked both ways when she was on the sidewalk, and jogged across the road when she declared it safe. When she reached the other side, she slowed back down to a walk. _I wonder...it's my first year of volleyball here. I've only met a few of the girls here, and the high school team is mixed grades. I have no clue who the captain is. I just hope they aren't one of those 'work-their-butts-off-till-they-can't-walk' coaches._

Sakura had already experienced that kind of coach. And it was an experience she wasn't happy to repeat. But that had been in middle school, and Sakura was in high school now. A new school, a new team, and new chances.

The pink-haired teenager had moved to Konoha the year before. Her old school had been the cause of her deep hatred for the school bus, and had also been the territory of the evil volleyball coach. Just because she didn't like the captain didn't mean she didn't like the game. And she was actually pretty good, if anyone asked. That was why she was determined to be on the high school team at this new school.

Sakura jogged the last few feet and pulled open the gym door. She was early, but that was good. She still had to get changed, and then she could get a good warm up, in case the team's captain skimmed over warm up and stretches.

Walking into the gym, the girl looked around for a sign that said 'Girls' Locker Room'. Finding it, she jogged over to the door and peeked inside before stepping in. The locker room smelled surprisingly good, and Sakura took in a deep whiff before looking around. Rows of leaf green lockers ran around the room and a few rows formed corridors in the middle of the room. Off to the left side were the showers, and a small bathroom area with a toilet and sink was off to the right.

Sakura walked around until she found the locker with her favorite number. 23. It was just a lucky number for her, and she used it whenever possible. Dropping her bag on the small bench running at the bottom of the locker, she sat down and took off her shoes, letting them air out. Unpacking her workout clothes from her bag, she laid them on the bench and quickly changed, packing everything back into her bag. Exchanging her school shoes for running shoes, she stuffed everything into the locker, and then walked over so she could look into the mirror while she put her hair up.

Satisfied, Sakura left the locker room and wandered around, wondering where they held the volleyballs. There were several other doors leading off of the main gym, and Sakura stepped into the nearest one. It was, from its appearance, an old classroom. That, or just a storage room that held desks, textbooks, and a rolling chalkboard.

Sakura stepped out and went to the next door. It was the boy's locker room, so she didn't go in, but she marked it mentally as a no-go area. Looking around, Sakura noticed another door, but she had to go past the bleachers to get to it. The pink-haired girl grinned and ran up the steps on the bleachers, along the top, and ran back down the stairs on the other side. _That could be a fun warm-up, running up and down the bleacher stairs. Also, potentially dangerous. Hehe, that's alright, I can do it by myself. Why get scolded by the new captain?_

Sakura tried to open the next door, but it was locked. Looking through the tiny windows, she saw that it was another classroom-like room, but it was empty, save the concession stand at one end. _They probably have it locked so that people can't go in and steal the cokes and chips, because I'm sure they wouldn't be stupid enough to keep a cash box in there. _Sakura giggled. Then again, who'd want to steal a bunch of cokes? You'd have to be really, REALLY thirsty. Or just that lame.

Sakura sighed and stepped back from the door. There was only one more door left. It was also by the bleaches, but it was on the same side as the concession stand. Jogging over, Sakura tried the door handle, and found herself staring up at a bunch of stairs. Instead of going up the stairs, she stepped back and looked up at the bleachers. "It must go under the bleachers," she wondered aloud. Sakura peered into the darkness, but couldn't see anything. Searching the walls, she looked for a lightswitch, and sighed happily when she found one. Her exploration was almost canceled; there was no way she was going to climb a staircase of dirty, spider-webbed stairs in complete darkness!

When Sakura turned on the light, she realized the stairs didn't go all that high. They went all the way to the back of the gym, in fact. She could tell because of a window at the end of the staircase. Light was coming in from under a blind, and Sakura wondered why she couldn't see the light earlier.

Sakura quickly climbed the stairs and peered out the window. It overlooked the baseball field, and a small amount of the football field. Turning her head to the right, and then the left, Sakura noticed that the next room didn't have a door. Stepping in, she ran her hand along the wall, and flipped a switch.

The room she was in was huge; it probably took up the whole length and width of the bleachers. A large wrestling mat was in the middle, and various sports related items were stuffed in corners and along the walls. A good-sized set of weights were resting in a back corner, and vats of basketballs, volleyballs, footballs, and a plastic tub filled halfway with baseballs were along one wall. Sakura didn't take in all of the details, but she was amused to find a small tv and beanbags in a secluded corner, opposite the weights.

Volleyballs! Sakura ran over to the vats of volleyballs and picked up a few. They were well inflated, and Sakura bounced around one for a little bit before taking it back downstairs, making sure to turn off the light before she left.

Sakura bumped the ball around for a few minutes before the first team members came in. They waved to her cheerfully, and she just nodded back, intent on her footwork. One by one, they came out to join her. Each time they would go up the staircase and come out with a ball. They would follow her lead, bumping and setting the ball around, or pair up to pepper.

It wasn't long before a girl with blonde hair pulled up into four ponytails walked in. A few girls shouted greetings to her, and she shouted back. Sakura was still paying attention to her own ball, though, so she only barely noticed.

When the blonde-haired girl came out again, she yelled for everyone to stop. They, Sakura included, stopped, and gave her their attention.

"Alright, everyone. My name's Temari, I'm the high school volleyball captain for this year. They've got us on a crazy-ass schedule, so we only have one week to practice before our first game." A few nervous murmurs ran through the small group, and Temari smiled. "But!" The murmurs ran out into silence. "But, I'm sure we can still kick their butts!" Cheers rang out, echoing off of the gym walls.

"Alright, so, I know I have a few newbies here. Let's go through everyone's names." Sakura listened as Kale, Tenten, Hinata, Ino, Hari, and Serena introduced themselves, and was mildly aware when it was her turn.

"Oh! I'm Sakura Haruno. Sorry, I kinda dazed off." She waved her hand nervously, clutching the volleyball closer to her stomach.

Temari clucked her tongue, "That's not good. Just don't do it during a game, okay?" Temari winked at Sakura, who nodded hastily.

"Yeah, I promise it won't happen again."

Sakura was about to say more, but she heard the squeak of the gym door opening, and turned to see who was intruding. The other girls were interested too, and some leaned at scary angles to get a good view. In walked a redheaded...guy.

_What the hell is he doing here? I thought this was an all girls' team? _Sakura jolted out of her thoughts when she heard Temari yell at the redhead. She was shaking her fists, and Sakura expected her to say something along the lines of, 'Get out of here, you pervert! This is a girls only practice!' But instead she said, "Damnit! You lazy ass, you're always late! Get to practice on time for once, will ya?"

The redhead grinned and walked over to sit on the bleachers. "Yeah, yeah," he replied, relaxing and pulling out a book from his back pocket. "It's not like I missed anything!"

Temari humphed and yelled, "Yeah, well, lucky you, you have to learn all of these girls' names by Friday, and I'm going to give them all nicknames so you can't hear the names during practice!" Sakura thought it was kind of childish, but hey. The guy was late, and if you were late in school you got a detention. _It only seems fair. And…we're just going to ignore the fact that there's a guy here at all._

Mildly, Sakura wondered, _What kind of name will they give me?_

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There it is, chap 1. I have now figured out that you can delete a document once you make it a chapter, and that makes me uber happy! I'll try to get chap 2 up tonight, but it's getting late, and I don't know if I can. Ja ne!


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own Naruto, only this plot. Which really sucks.

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Sakura wiped a bit of sweat off onto her shirt. She and her partner, Hinata, were attempting to pepper. But, turns out, Hinata's not all that good at volleyball. Sakura was constantly running after the ball, because Hinata would hit it wrong, or would put too much force into the hit and send it flying over her head. Then Sakura would retrieve the ball, bump it softly to Hinata, and they would repeat the process. Sometimes, the shorter girl would hit it too softly, and the ball wouldn't even make it to Sakura. It was becoming rather frustrating, but there was no way Sakura would admit that to Hinata. The girl looked jumpy enough without being yelled at.

After ten minutes of this process, Temari yelled out for people to switch partners. With Temari playing, they had eight people, but because she was the team captain and had to pay attention to all of the team members, they had an odd number. Cue Sakura's worst nightmare, or close to it.

"Oi, Gaara, come out here and be partners with Haruno, will ya?" It sounded like a question, but coming from Temari it really _was_ more of an order. Too bad Gaara didn't seem to care.

The boy just looked up from his book and scoffed. "Sure, Temari. Because I'm _really _going to get out on the court and play a girl's game." Temari wouldn't take no for an answer, however, so she stomped up to Gaara and took the book right out of his hands. Gaara sent Temari death glares, but she ignored them, and sent equally intimidating glares right back at him.

" I don't think you heard me correctly," Temari said coldly. "I just told you to get your ass out on that court and practice with one of my girls, but you're ass is still parked on this bench. Now, can you find what's wrong with this picture?"

Gaara sighed after a moment and gave in. "Temari, I'd be happy to help you and your sissy team, but I'm still in my school clothes, and I don't have a spare change. You know how Mom'd be if I came home all sweaty in my new dress shirt."

Temari smirked at Gaara. She was completely oblivious to the group of girls that had stopped practicing and were watching intently. Sakura was a bit embarrassed; why, out of all the other girls, had Temari chosen her to be Gaara's partner? Or, was it the other way around?

Temari's smirk still lingered when she uttered the words 2/3 of the girls in the gym had been waiting to hear. "Well then...

Guess you'll just have to play with your shirt off."

Gaara sighed; somehow he had seen this coming. Glancing down at the girls, he looked for the girl whose last name was Haruno. He figured it was the pink haired one, because she was standing a way's off from the others, and she was all by herself, implying she didn't have a partner.

The teen stood up and turned around. He could hear Temari snort, "You don't need to be modest." Well, he wasn't being modest. He was being courteous. This _was _a girl's practice after all; it'd be kind of rude for a guy to waltz into the practice and start playing with his shirt off. Or at least, that's what he'd like to think. Girls these days were scarier than back when they had been embarrassed to see a guy half-naked. Now they practically drooled over it…

Sakura waited as the others resumed their practicing. Gaara still had to warm up, because he knew the consequences of _not _warming up. She didn't mind, really. She took the time to practice her sets. She had a hard time getting them into the perfect, high arc that came to everyone else on the team so easily.

Sakura stopped her solo practice when Gaara came up to her. "What are we supposed to be doing again?" he asked. Sakura tried to keep her eyes on his face, but they managed to wander down upon his chest. Gaara's skin was very light, and he had tight muscles, that rippled whenever he made fluid movement.

"Oh, um...let's see. We have to get 10 good bumps, 5 good sets, and then we have to pepper for a bit. Does that sound good to you?" Gaara nodded and bent down, bringing his arms into the position for bumping.

"Ready when you are," he smirked. He hadn't played in a while, but he couldn't be that rusty. Right?

Sakura threw the ball into the air and bumped it to Gaara, who took a few steps forward and bumped it back. The two made no mistakes, and it was the same with setting. Sakura had to admit, Gaara was damn good at volleyball, even though it was a girls' sport. Once they got into pepper mode, things got interesting. Sakura - who was now daydreaming about nonexistent highschool guys' volleyball - bumped the ball to Gaara, and he returned it in the form of a magnificent set.

Unfortunately, Sakura was still stuck in her own little volleyball world. So, she didn't notice the ball that came down right on top of her head until it was too late.

Dazed, Sakura rubbed her head and looked at Gaara. He had a funny look on, as thought he had just witnessed someone turn into an alien. Sakura's gaze wandered around to the groups next to her, and then she finally saw the white ball that was rolling towards the entrance. It wasn't hard to piece things together. She had been daydreaming again.

"Ah, I'm sorry!" she told an amused Gaara, before running off after the ball.

Temari, who had seen the whole thing, wandered up to stand behind Gaara. "So, what do you think? Does she have any potential?" the blonde girl asked, whispering slightly into her brother's ear.

Gaara shook Temari off and rubbed at an aching muscle. "Yeah, she really does, if you can get her to pay attention long enough. She's got good aim, and judges how much power she needs in each hit accurately. She's not so hot at setting, but she's pretty good at keeping the ball going. I'm actually looking forward to seeing her serve."

Temari wrote something on her clipboard and ruffled her brother's hair. "Thanks, I'm so glad I have you to evaluate my newbies. I can take over from here, if you want." Gaara nodded and swatted at Temari's hand, before gathering his shirt and heading off to the boys' locker room.

When Sakura ran back with the ball, she found out that Gaara had gone; Temari had replaced him. Which was alright. She hadn't been able to concentrate with him around anyway.

"Um, I'm sorry, Temari. I guess I just can't think straight today." Temari just waved her hand to dismiss the conversation.

"Sakura, you're the only newbie this year, so I get to pick on you. I'm telling you this beforehand, which is almost against the imaginary rules. Anyway, besides pairing you up with Gaara and a few of the other veterans to analyze your skills, we also get to have a little fun and play a prank on you. We haven't decided on the prank yet, obviously, but be ready for it. Gaara really gets involved with the pranks, and it'll hit you hard when it comes." Temari gave Sakura an encouraging smile. Sakura, who was still dazed from the ball hitting her head, tried to comprehend everything her captain had just said. _Huh? A prank? That's meaaaaan. Oh well, guess it's like an initiation. Can't avoid it._

"Alright everyone!" Temari shouted, turning to address the rest of the team. "Let's practice serving. Split up into two groups, and when you get a bad serve, sit on the bleachers." The team scurried around, and the serving began.

Sakura grabbed a ball and chose a side. Great. Serving was her worse skill, if she could even call it a skill. She had just gotten strong enough to hit overhand, but sometimes she had a bad toss, or hit the ball at an odd angle. Sighing, Sakura dribbled her ball around behind the service line. She had read the rules. They were, and I quote:

_Thus, no underhand is allowed in any high school team. Every member of the team must use overhand, or risk the other team getting the point._

Unquote.

Well, hell. Sakura had a few options, but none of them were good. Her first option was to hang back and wait for a few other girls to get out on the bleachers before attempting her serves, but Temari would surely notice if she was only hanging out at the back of the gym, not serving at all.

Second option...serve and hope she actually got a few good serves in before she had to go sit down.

Her third option was most likely the easiest. Just wing it. Laugh it off if her first serve was bad. Sit and admire everyone else who could serve ten times better than she could. _Yeah, I think I'll use my third option._

--------16 good serves later...

Sakura sighed. She had been doing so well, too. Ah, well, all good streaks must come to an end. The teen shagged her ball and took it over to the bleachers with her, sitting down next to Hinata and Tenten. Hinata had been there for a while, but Tenten was a new addition.

"Hey girl!" Tenten laughed, patting Sakura on the head. "You're pretty good! I've been watching you these last few minutes!"

Hinata nodded and said, "U-uh huh. I was w-watching too. I wish I were that good," she added wistfully.

Sakura blushed and moved Tenten's hand from her head. "Nah, I'm never that good. It's like somebody took over my body for me. Somebody who can actually serve, unlike me." Sakura laughed. "I was so surprised I actually got it over, and over, and over. It was like an alternate universe!"

Tenten shook her head, "Girl, you _have _to have _some _talent at serving. Otherwise, you never would have lasted that long. No offense, I mean."

"None taken," Sakura replied. Looking around the bleachers, she noticed Gaara was still gone. "Hey, Tenten, Hinata. Do you know where Gaara went?"

Tenten made a face, and Hinata just shook her head no. "That guy is always disappearing during practice. He's probably hanging out in the guy's locker room listening to his CD player or something. Because it'd just _kill _him to help us out once in a blue moon!" Hinata nodded, agreeing with Tenten's rage.

Sakura started to say something, but Temari called everyone down to the court, and Tenten and Hinata were already leaving her. Sakura just sighed and followed them, taking her time. _Temari can just wait!_

"Alright, everyone, that was a good practice! Remember, we don't have practice tomorrow, but the day after we'll be having an extended practice. We'll also talk about our trip then, too, so don't miss it. Alright, dismissed."

Sakura's mind wandered. _What trip? Extended practice? Huh? What?_

Sakura shook her head and searched for Temari. The girl was standing outside of the boys' locker room and was banging on the door, yelling at Gaara. Sakura wasn't really listening to the words coming out of the blonde's mouth, she justwanted to ask Temari a few questions before she left.

Tapping Temari on the arm, Sakura got the girl's attention. Temporarily abandoning her assault on the locker room door, the captain turned and asked, "Yes, Sakura?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just wondering what you meant by the 'trip'." Temari's eyes seemed to brighten for a moment, and she turned so that she was giving Sakura her full attention. "Oh! The trip! I guess I forgot to tell yo--"

Gaara opened the locker room door, whacking Temari hard in the backside. "The trip is just something we do every year for fun," he said bluntly, beating Temari to the main point. "We usually hold it after our third game, if not later. It's probably going to be earlier this year, though, seeing as how our first game is in a week." Gaara poked at Temari, who was red in the face, telling her, "You know that, right? You have to get these wimps into shape in a week, lucky you."

Temari's face turned redder, and then redder. "GAARA! I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS FOR SAYING THAT ABOUT MY TEAM MEMBERS, YOU KNOW THAT? START RUNNING YOU DUMBASS, AND DON'T EVER COME BACK!!!" Gaara smirked at Sakura, gave a mock military salute, and then left her staring at the entrance and his retreating back. Temari was right behind him, but the only thing Sakura could think of was...

_Damn, Gaara runs __**really**__ fast._

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Thankee for all the reviews! I luvvles them! Ja ne!


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry guys, but I'm a bit depressed. You would be too if you put a ton of work into a story that nobody's reviewed on, and then one day you decide to jot down a stupid idea that everyone loves. So, I'm in denial. I'm only going to crunch out this chapter because so many of you people actually want it. I REALLY want to work on some other story, but I actually have to balance out my work/write ethics. Anyway...here goes...

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Sakura shifted in her beanbag. The whole team had just gotten out of practice, but before she could get to the locker room, Sakura felt herself being kidnapped.

(_flashback)_

_"Oi! What the heck are you doing?" Sakura yelled as two girls grabbed her arms and dragged her over to the staircase._

_"Oh, don't worry, we won't do anything mean," one of the girls said in a creepy voice._

_"Or harmful," the other added, but that wasn't very reassuring._

Sakura wiggled her toes. They had hit a lot of stairs on the way up to the "hangout". Sakura made a mental note to never be kidnapped again, especially if stairs were involved. _They didn't have to be so forceful! I personally think it's because Temari paired me with Gaara __again._

"Alright, is everyone here?" Temari asked, standing up in front of the tv and facing the small group. Counting heads, she seemed satisfied, so she continued. "I'm sorry we had to group an extended practice with a meeting, but I couldn't schedule it for any other time."

Sakura pursed her lips. She wanted to go home and take a shower, dammit! She felt gross from the extended practice and extra sweating.

_Extended practice...we should do that more often..._the pink-haired teen thought happily, her mind temporarily wandering away from Temari's discussion and conveniently blocking out her thoughts from before. While she couldn't sit through a simple meeting, Sakura absolutely adored having an extended practice. _Well, who wouldn't mind spending more time with their personal, male trainer? _

To be honest, although it was true that Gaara was male, he wasn't exactly her _personal_ trainer. Sakura's imagination had been getting the better of her lately. Earlier, when Temari had taken role call, the whole team had found out a member was missing, resulting in even numbers for once. Gaara had changed for nothing. (Yes, he finally gave in and brought gym clothes with him to every practice, so he wouldn't have to go shirtless. Several girls could be found silently weeping after that.)

The odd thing was, when Sakura had gone to meet her new partner, Temari had jumped in and said she would play with that girl, and that Sakura would have to endure Gaara for one more practice. Which Sakura didn't mind. Nope. Didn't mind _**at all.**_

So, even though he wasn't shirtless, Sakura had enjoyed her extended time period with Gaara. They never saw each other much in the school hallways, but when they did they mostly ignored each other. Save the one time Gaara looked at Sakura and smiled. Sakura had gone to class looking like a lobster.

_Yeah, I definitely wouldn't mind another extended practice with Gaara. Why doesn't he just officially join the team? Could he do that?_

"Oi! Sakura! Earth to Sakura! **Sakura! Wake your ass up!**"

Sakura shook her head to get rid of her daydream. "Er, sorry Temari. I wasn't asleep though, I was daydreaming."

Temari shook her fist in Sakura's face and shouted, "I didn't imply you were asleep!"

Gaara smirked. "Right, you just told her to 'wake up'." Temari's shaking fist turned into a flying fist as it was aimed at Gaara. Gaara easily dodged it though, and the girls cheered. Sakura groaned. Practically her whole team, herself included, were Gaara's fangirls. And somehow, Sakura resented that. Maybe it was just because she didn't like the word 'fangirl', and couldn't stand to call herself one. Though it was, you know, pretty much true.

"What was it that you wanted, Temari?" Sakura asked, trying to distract the captain. Temari turned away from tormenting Gaara and pushed her face into Sakura's. Sakura flinched at the closeness, and noticed how close their mouths were. Ew. One wrong move and...

"**SAKURA! Get your head out of your ass! **I have something important to say, so pay attention."

Temari stood back and Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. Giving the thumbs up signal, she smiled brightly and said, "Right! Spit it out!"

Temari stood in front of the tv again, and announced in a triumphant tone, "I've rented a cabin at a camping resort an hour away from here! Our trip is going to be camping!"

A few girls groaned, and Sakura noticed it were mainly the preppy, popular girls that gave the loudest groans. "I think it's a great idea!" she chirped, wrapping her arms around her knees. "I've been camping before, and I had a blast. I just hope the weather is nice the days that we'll be gone."

Temari gave Sakura a thumbs up. "Then I can put you and Gaara in charge of everything?" she asked hopefully, giving Sakura the puppy dog eyes. Sakura gave Temari the 'you're-acting-scary-of-course-you-can-you-idiot' look. (You have to read that last part really slowly to make it sound funny, I swear)

Temari clapped her hands. "Great! So, we're going to have it next month, on the 5th. There shouldn't be all that many people there that weekend, so hopefully we'll have the lake and trails all to ourselves. Which reminds me, since it's a team trip for school, we actually have to learn something. We're going to learn how to play beach volleyball! It's a bit different than regular volleyball, and it's a lot harder to run in the sand, so I figured it'd be a good experience."

Sakura pictured the team out on a sandy beach in the middle of the day, laughing and relaxing..."Sounds like fun. But, how long are we staying? Knowing you, you'll want us to master the whole 'technique' of beach volleyball right? Well, we can't do that in one or two days." She buried her face into her knees, so she didn't see the look of glee that slid onto Temari's face.

"Oh, but we aren't just staying for one night! We're staying for a whole week!" A few of the girls gasped, and Sakura grinned, coming out from hiding behind her knees. _This is going to be so much fun! Maybe I'll get a tan...oh, but I don't want a tan. Ino says tan lines are evil._

"Well, anyways, that's all I had to say. I should be letting you guys go now, since it's almost 7:30 P.M. We can schedule another meeting later next week." Temari stretched and Sakura thought of something.

"Hey, what happened to those nicknames you were going to give to us?"

The quick change in subject made Temari groan, and Gaara grinned. "Sorry, but those were only going to be until Gaara learned all of your guys' names. The little cheater stole the records from me last night, so it's kind of a moot point now.

Sakura looked at Gaara and glared. She had been wanting a nickname. Sakura was so formal, and boring. "Well, if we did get nicknames, what would mine have been?"

Temari laughed and said, "Well, naturally...**Pinky**!!!!!"

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Lolz, that nickname was dedicated to ..window, who correctly predicted the it! I honestly couldn't think of anything better, and this was just perfect for a joke. I didn't end it very well though. I find it hard to do anything correctly these days. Sorry if it's short. Ja ne!


	4. Chapter 4

Ello everyone! I'm so glad you guys enjoy this story. I have to admit, I'm having a bit of fun winging it. I don't know how I came up with the camping thing though. I knew I wanted the trip to be camping, but I think the story enhanced it to more. Anyway, this story is going to start out as the team is coming home from their 3rd game. They are on the bus, and Gaara, well, he's nowhere to be seen.

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Sakura rested her head against the window. The bus rumbled down the highway and the glass shook, vibrating against her forehead in an uncomfortable way. The girl took her face away from the glass, only to rest upon it again a moment later.

They had won every game. What a victory. Their last game - the one they were currently coming home from - had been a close call, 21 to 19. Sakura thought it was odd that the other school only played to 21, but she couldn't care less now. They might have lost if they had had to play to 25.

Sakura sighed and shifted so that she was looking out into the aisle. She was sharing a seat with Tenten, and the other was chatting animatedly with Hinata, who was sharing a seat with Temari. Temari, who normally sat up from by the bus driver, had chosen to sit on the middle of her favorite members.

_I still don't see how she can call us her favorites...Tenten and Hinata are friends she's known since childhood, but I have no clue as to why she's hanging around me so much. Do I seem that lonely?_

Temari gave a loud laugh, and Tenten and Hinata had to cover her mouth. Sakura winced; this was why she hated the bus so much. Everyone was so _loud_. They had no respect for the people sitting around them, or at least most people didn't, anyway.

Sakura watched her friends for a while, and then turned back to the window. _I can't believe I have to stay on this stupid bus for an __hour__ next week._

Sakura winced. _That's right, the camping trip is next week. I wonder how Temari convinced all of the teachers and the principal to let us leave school for a whole week? _Actually…it was probably better if she didn't know. Knowing how they were pulled off might ruin the charm of Temari's amazing plans.

Sakura thought about what all she was going to pack for the trip, who she was going to sit with on the bus, and how she was going to _survive _on the bus for that whole damned hour. Just the rides too and from the other schools left her in the worst of moods.

_I wonder...is there a phobia of buses? That'd be pretty funny. If they haven't already named it, I want to. I'd name it something like, 'yellow'hell'ophobia', or something with the word 'hell' in it, because that's what it is. A moving, yellow, junk of metal hell._

"Sakura!" Tenten waved her hand in front of Sakura's face to get her attention. Sakura blinked a few times and then looked at her friend. "What?" she asked, annoyed that her thoughts had been interrupted.

"Who do you want in a cabin?" the other teen asked. Hinata was now sitting alone in the seat, because Temari had gone to the front of the bus to tell the driver something.

"I don't know," Sakura said, looking up at the ceiling of the bus. "Anyone, I guess."

Temari plopped back into Hinata's seat. "Whatcha talking about?" she asked, wiping a bit of sweat off of her forehead. Sakura mentally agreed, it was really hot in the stuffy bus.

"W-we're t-talking about who we w-want in our c-c-cabins," Hinata stumbled on the words.

Temari laughed. "I don't think you guys will get a choice. I gave the team list to Tsunade, and she's going to pick out the pairings."

Tenten made a face. "Why?" she asked.

Temari leaned back against the seat back. "Well, since Gaara's going to be there, and because some of the girls in the team don't get along--" Sakura remembered the fight that had broken out a few practices ago, "Tsunade wants to pair people so that they get along. I mean, her name as the principal of this school might get tainted if she let me pair you up, and then had everyone come back battered and bruised from girly-fights. Or worse yet, the police had to be called to take care of something."

Sakura gave a small snort. "All of this nonsense is stupid. If you just let us choose, we'd probably pick people we wouldn't get in fights with, right? Pairing us with people just because of our history is so stupid."

Temari smiled at her teammate. "Oh really? Did you know, Sakura, that the cabins I rented only have one bed? And that I only rented 7 cabins? That makes, oh, 2 people per cabin?"

Sakura sneered, the bus was making her cranky. "Point?" she asked.

"Tsunade was thinking of pairing _you _with _Gaara_."

Sakura could feel her cheeks turn red. Snorting, she mumbled, "I would just sleep on the floor." In a more cheerful voice, she added, "Or, better yet, I'll made _him _sleep on the floor."

Temari, Tenten, and Hinata exchanged looks. They were all thinking, '_What an odd mood swing.' _"Er, Sakura," Tenten began. "Gaara is one of those people who isn't moved easily..."

Sakura waved the girl off. "We're almost home!" she said happily staring out the window with a huge grin on her face. Tenten sighed and gave up. _That girl __really __hates these bus trips, doesn't she?_

-------(Time skip, first of the seven days of camping)-------

Sakura couldn't help but feel anxious as she waited in the parking lot for the bus. The backpack hanging off her shoulder was heavy, and she set it down on the cement next to her. _Looks like I'm the first one, as usual._ Sakura had gotten up an hour earlier than usual to recheck her list and make sure she had everything, eat a good breakfast, take a long shower, and then sit around and prepare herself for the yellow hell that was going to pick her up later.

Sakura sat down on the curb and looked at her cell phone. It said the time was 7:18, so the bus should be there in another 10 minutes. Putting her phone on vibrate, she tucked it into her zipper pocket. _Tenten and Hinata had spent the night at Tenten's house, so they should arrive soon too_, Sakura thought. _Temari and Gaara are coming together, but I have no idea why. Maybe because Gaara acts as a co-captain? I really wish I could figure it out. All Temari said was, _"Gaara and I will arrive together at about 7:25."

Sakura began tapping her feet, and then humming. She closed her eyes and hummed a tune she didn't even recognize. She was so into the tune that she didn't notice Tenten and Hinata come up behind her.

"Oh, I've heard that song before," Tenten said, making Sakura jump.

Hinata nodded her head, "I-it's all o-over the radio these days."

Sakura just shrugged. "I just remembered it, but I have no clue as to the lyrics or the name of the song, or even who sings it. That's what I hate about the radio, unless you pay attention to what's being said between songs, everything seems so anonymous!"

Tenten laughed and sat by Sakura on the curb. Hinata dropped her bag next to Sakura's and sat crosslegged next to it, entertaining herself by drawing in the dirt with a stick. "Yeah. Hey, so, are we the first ones? Nobody else is here?"

Sakura shook her head no. "Remember, we had a choice of being picked up here, or at the elementary, because the bus driver lives right behind the elementary, and said that it'd be easier for the people living there.

"Oh..." Tenten said, and rested her head on her knees. She had just arrived at the bus stop, and was already bored. "So, who _do _you want to be stuck with in that 1 bed, 2 person cabin?"

Sakura sighed, trying not to hit her friend on the head. "You already asked me that, and I already answered. I said I don't care, because I don't _dislike_ anyone on this team. And besides you guys and Temari, I don't have any other friends, really." Any other friends Sakura had made at the new school were in other sports or activities. Which was fine, because the pink-haired girl could only manage talking to so many people at once.

Hinata looked up from her drawing and smiled. "W-we're going to friends for a l-long time, r-right?"

Sakura was a bit surprised by the sudden question, but turned so that Hinata could see her smile, and nodded. "Yes, good friends. But, Tsunade knows you two are best friends, so she'll probably pair you two up. Because Temari and Gaara are captain and co-captain, they'll most likely--"

"Wait a minute," Tenten interrupted. "Gaara's not the co-captain. He just helps us out once in a while."

Sakura shrugged and replied, "Well, he sure acts like a co-captain. He and Temari are pretty close, too."

Tenten and Hinata exchnged glances. They both shared the same thoughts: _Did Sakura not know the two are brother and sister?_

"Oh, hey!" Sakura pointed to the road in front of them. "There's the big yellow death trap. Let's go." Sakura stood up and grabbed her bag, waiting for the 'yellow deathtrap' to stop and open it's doors for her. Tenten and Hinata followed suit, waiting patiently.

When the three got on the bus, they looked around for empty seats. "Hey you guys!" Temari shouted from the back of the bus, waving her hand so they knew where to look. "Come back here, I saved you a few seats!" Tenten immediately headed towards the blonde team captain and Sakura and Hinata followed, trying to weave their way down the aisle. The packed and annoyingly crowded aisle.

Tenten plopped down with Temari, and Sakura and Hinata shared the empty seat in front of them. When they were sitting, Temari stood up and took a head count. Giving the driver a thumbs up, she sat back down as the large, black wheels began to roll out of the parking lot.

_This is only the beginning..._

-------

Alright, this title NEEDS to change. My original idea might still work, but at this point, I'm just going to wing the rest of the story and see if the story and title still match. I can't believe this! Okay, if my original idea is 5 miles away from what I wanted it to be, this story is 23,678,548,398 miles away! I promise, the next chapter will be longer. I think. Maybe. If I try hard enough. Well, until then. Ja ne!


	5. Chapter 5

I think maybe a few are asking yourselves, "Does the author really hate buses that much? Well, a little. I hate the close, clausterphobic-ness, and all the noise. I'm a quiet person when I want to be, and Sakura gets her spacing out from me. I like to space out a lot, like when I fell asleep in history and the whole class got to listen to the first few paragraphs of one of my stories. But, oh well. Let's just get to the story, shall we?

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Sakura sighed. She had only been on the bus for ten minutes before her crabby mood had started to take over. Tenten and Temari were talking loudly, and Hinata sat in the seat next to her, reading a book. Sakura resisted the urge to hit herself on the forehead and followed Hinata's example. Reaching into her backpack, the girl pulled out a thick novel she had randomly chosen off of her bookshelf the night before.

Sakura flipped open to the first page of the book, but didn't get very far before somebody poked her in the head.

"Hey!" Sakura said, rubbing her head where she had been poked. "That actually hurt a bit, you know?"

Temari grinned. "Sorry, but I wanted to apologize. Gaara was being poky this morning, and we would have missed the bus if we didn't get on at the elementary. So, sorry, again." Sakura just shrugged. "I don't really care, it's not like I was there alone."

"Oh, hey, Temari," Tenten asked, interrupting the conversation. "Do you have the cabin schedules yet?"

Temari grimaced and shook her head no. "Tsunade wouldn't give them to me, she just shipped them off to the camp supervisers, and told me that they'd give it to me when we got there."

Tenten shook her fist at the ceiling as she shouted, "Damn you, Tsunade!" Everyone in the bus glanced at her, but then turned back to what they were doing. Tenten's face turned red, and she slipped down in the seat to hide her face. "Whoops, a little too loud, I think."

Sakura turned around and ignored her dorky friend. "I don't know you," she said over her shoulder, trying to pay attention to her book.

-----(33 minutes later, 52 minutes into the trip)-----

Sakura shifted her backpack onto her lap. _We should be pretty close by now._ Sakura had enjoyed the last 20 minutes or so, because the scenery was beautiful. After giving up on her book, the young teen had decided on watching the road and scenery fly by.

Sakura's eyes flew open when the bus finally slowed to a stop. She had almost dozed off there! Looking out the window, she saw that they were parked in the middle of a big clearing. Trees surrounded the clearing on all sides. Two large buildings were on one side of the clearing, and a solo building was across from them.

Sakura watched Temari stuggle down the aisle and out the bus. The blonde captain jogged past the bus and to the smallest of the buildings, entering and coming out almost instantly with an older woman. The two walked up to the bus, and Sakura could tell the woman was talking and explaining things to Temari.

When Temari and the other woman entered the bus, they stood at the front and waited for the girls (and Gaara) to quiet down.

"Alright," Temari started. "This is Mrs. Hartlett, she's one of the camp counselor's, and she'll be showing us to our cabins. If you're ever lost or need help, try to find you're way back to this clearing and ask for her."

Mrs. Bartlett nodded. "Alright, before I take you to your cabins, I'd like to list a few rules. The first rule is the curfew. We have a bedcheck at 10:00, and I'll turn out the lights when I check your names off. Now, if you decide to stay up late, you MUST have Ms. Temari's permission, in the form of a slip of paper, or she must be with you at the time."

Hartlett took a breath and continued. "Our next rule is that any defiling or stealing of camp property will be punished. And the last rule is...to have fun!" Most of the girls stood up and cheered. When things calmed back down, Mrs. Hartlett waved a stack of papers in the air. "These are the schedules for you girls, and Mr. Gaara. I'll give them to Ms. Temari for now. These have the schedules, you're cabin number, and who you're bunking with, so don't lose them. That's all I have to say, so let's go!"

--------

Sakura smiled; the scenery in the woods was beautiful. _I could definately see waking up to this every morning for a week..._

"We're here!" Mrs. Hartlett's cheery voice rang out. The whole group stopped and looked around. After a 15 minute walk in the woods, they had come to another, smaller clearing. 7 cabins wrapped in a circle around the outsides of the clearing, and a small building that Sakura suspected was the bathroom/showers was off to one side.

"Alright, I'm going to read off the names of people and what cabin you're in. Cabin one...Kaite and Karin...cabin 2...Sabethe and Hari...cabin 3...Haruhi and Kaoru (funny, ne?)...cabin 4...Kale and Ino...cabin 5...Hinata and Tenten...hmmm...Serena, you and I get to share cabin 6..."

Sakura gulped. That left two people. Her and...

"Haruno! It's your lucky day, you get to share 7 with Gaara." Sakura hung her head, this was just what her friends had been telling her. The fangirl in her was rejoicing, but for some reason her physical features wouldn't let her do anything but sulk.

"Oi, everyone. Put your stuff away and meet me back out here. Quickly, please. Mrs. Bartlett needs to get back to the office."

Sakura watched as everyone else scurried away to find their cabin. Knowing the number of her cabin, Sakura looked to the first cabin on her left. It was cabin 1. So, the last cabin, the one on her right, was cabin 7. Easy enough to figure out.

Sakura walked over to the cabin and opened the screen door. She had lost sight of Gaara; she suspected he was talking with Temari, or was just going to drop his things outside the door.

Looking around the room, Sakura was actually a little surprised. It was definitely not what she had expected. Then again, she hadn't really know what to expect. The cabin was all one room, with a single twin sized bed at one end. a fireplace was right across from the door, and a counter ran along half of the right side, a table capping off the end. Sakura chuckled at how there were _two _chairs for the table, but only one bed.

_How stupid...who thought this up? Really? _Sakura went over to the table and rubbed her hand over it, before dropping her bag onto one of the chairs. Temari could wait a few more minutes.

Looking around the room more closely, Sakura noticed the little things that made it look more homely, if that was even a word. Homely? Home-ish? Anyway, they added on to the whole room. The smale pile of wood next to the fireplace, a rug in the doorway, the bedside table, matching linens and pillowcases.

Sakura smiled, the bus effects were beginning to wear off! "This room is so cute," she said in a small voice.

"Really?" a husky voice asked. Sakura jumped and looked at the door, which Gaara was currently coming through. The red-head was dragging a backpack and a large bag that, Sakura supposed, contained several volleyballs. She watched as he glanced around the room. "Looks pretty plain to me."

"That's why it's cute," Sakura said, defending the room's simplicity. She pouted, crossing her arms for effect. "Besides, what did you expect? A 5-star hotel room?"

Gaara shrugged and dragged the bags over to the left side of the bed. "I'm taking this side, do you mind?" he asked, dropping his bag on the pillow and sprawling out on the covers, legs dangling off the side.

Even if Sakura didn't mind, her feminine side wouldn't let her admit it. Before she could stop herself, words came flowing out of her mouth. "Oi, who said you were sleeping on the bed?"

Gaara looked at the girl and raised an eyebrow (I don't CARE if it's nonexistant, for pete's sake!). "Oh? And are you going to stop me?"

Sakura huffed and put on an air of false confidence. "Well, _I'm _not sleeping on the floor. Guess that leaves you, ne?" Walking over to the right side of the bed, Sakura jumped on and attempted to push Gaara off. She wasn't having much luck, though. Finally, the man slid off of his own free will and stood up, grinning at the smug girl.

Sakura was happily congragulating herself on her 'victory' when she felt Gaara pick her up. He was carrying her bridal style away from the bed, towards the door. As much as she wanted him to let go, she was afraid of having a large bruise on her rear end from the fall. Struggling, Sakura tried to wiggle out of Gaara's arms, but the other held fast.

Somehow, Gaara got the screen door open with his hands occupied. Sakura could feel her cheeks burn red when all the girls turned to look at her...or rather _Gaara,_ who was still carrying her.

Walking a few steps, Gaara dropped Sakura on her rear end and grinned. "Guess that's settled, huh?"

Sakura knew the other girls were tried to stifle giggles. "Gaara! You JERK!"

----------------

Sorry! I know, it's late, and it's a bunch of crap. I'm trying to distribute work to all of my stories, so I'm only getting a little on each done. Plus, I'm trying to sing to the songs I have playing on my playlist, and type at the same time. Very distracting. But, it keeps me happy. Anyway, I hope you guys approve of this chapter. Ja ne!


	6. Chapter 6

Everyone, I'm DEMANDING you to read my FMA story. Actually, I'm really pleaing, begging, and groveling. So PLEASE, for my sanity's sake, read it and review.

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Sakura sighed. It was so nice out in the woods. Even if she was stuck with Gaara.

Earlier, Temari had ordered everyone to familiarize themselves with the area. Code for 'hike around and have fun before we really have to get serious'. Sakura would have been fine if she could have gone alone, but Temari said everyone had to have a partner, and she, of course, was with Gaara.

Sakura was beginning to see a pattern.

Next, they'd be asking the two to share a meal, or share a beach towel. And thats when Sakura decided she would blow up. Yup, she was going to try and hold out until that designated time. And she actually felt sorry for whoever was near her when and if she decided to blow.

"Oomph!" The girl had been walking in a daze, and hadn't noticed the tree root in her path. Pushing herself up from the ground, Sakura rubbed her forehead. "That hurt," she grumbled.

"Maybe you should pay more attention to where you're going," a smug voice said from in front of her. Sakura sighed and tilted her face up so she was looking up at Gaara. "Gaara, shut up. You're annoying me." Gaara just smriked and turned to keep walking, not even offering to help her up.

Sakura stood up and brushed dirt off of her shorts. She didn't bother with trying to catch up with Gaara; she knew he'd wait for her at the next intersection. Or rather, he'd stay to make sure she didn't get lost, so that _he _didn't get in trouble. Temari'd really kill him if he left Sakura all alone in the woods.

Sakura stopped to pick up a flower that was at the edge of the path. It was a pretty, white flower, but she didn't know what kind it was. Twirling the flower between the fingers in her right hand, Sakura off down the path again.

--------

Sigh. What a bore. She and Gaara had wandered around for an hour or two, and then turned around to go back to the cabins. They hadn't been the first ones back, though. A few of the other groups had also given up, and were huddled around the firepit, sitting on logs and talking.

Sakura happily jogged over to Temari, who was gathering wood from the large pile next to cabin 1.

"Oh, Sakura, are you and Gaara back already?" Temari struggled with a piece of wood, and Sakura took it out of the captain's grasp.

"Yes. We didn't find anything interesting...I take it the beach is farther west than we thought?"

"Hmph." Temari loaded her arms with wood and jogged over to the circle, only to drop the wood in a pile next to the firepit and jog back to the wood stock. "I suppose. I only meandered around quickly before heading off to the main clearing. Mrs. Hartlett is going to pick us up for dinner."

"Dinner?" Sakura helped Temari load another armful of wood. Temari just nodded and dropped off another armful of wood. This time, Sakura followed her.

Wiping her forehead, Temari sighed. "Yeah, we eat most of our meals in the cafeteria, which is in the main clearing. But, because it took me a while to find my way back there, Mrs. Hartlett offered to pick us up so we didn't get lost."

"Oh, that's nice of her!" Sakura said cheerfully, depositing the piece of wood she had taken from Temari earlier onto the pile. "I take it we're going to have smores later, by the looks of your preperations."

Temari stood up and stretched, grinning at Sakura. "Hey, you're a pretty good guesser. Yeah, smores and ghost stories, isn't that the tradition for camping?" Sakura shrugged and turned to walk back to her cabin. "I dunno, but I'll see you later, okay?"

Temari stopped stretching and watched Sakura walk into cabin 7. "That's odd, why's she going in there? It's not like there's anything to do in there, anyway." Tapping her chin, the blonde captain shrugged and said, "Oh well. I better find the chocolate and marshmallows before they disappear!"

---------

Sakura looked up at the sky. She had wanted to grab her book from the cabin, dash out and disappear so she could read in piece and quiet for a bit, but those plans were thrown to the floor when she searched through her backpack.

"Where is it, where is it?" she murmured, shifted a pair of pants to the other side of the bag so she could look on the bottom.

"Looking for something?" a voice asked from the doorway. Sakura yelped and jumped a foot in the air, turning around to face the person. "Dammit, Gaara! Don't freckin' scare me like that! And for your information, yes, I'm looking for my bo--"

Gaara was leaning against the door frame, his right arm crossed against his chest and his left hand holding...her book. The red-headed thief was smirking, and he tossed the book to Sakura, who amazingly caught it in her daze. "Sorry if kept it a bit long. I thought it would just be a stupid romance novel, but it was quite interesting." Turning to go back outside, Gaara looked over his shoulder and winked. "You actually have a pretty good taste in books, Ms. Demons-and-Dragons." Chuckling at the look on Sakura's face, he continued, "Anyway, Temari's calling everyone for dinner, so you should get your butt out here."

Sakura finally came out of the fog that had been swirling aroud her. "Hey, wait! I--"

Too late. That bastard was already gone.

Sighing, Sakura shoved her book into her backpack and walked towards the door. _I wonder if it would be too much to ask for a peaceful week._ _Already the first day and I'm wishing it would just end. Tomorrow will be better though, because we'll get to go to the beach and play volleyball and swim, I hope._

Well, she could always hope.

---------

Sakura caught herself as she tripped over a tree root. She remembered the time earlier when she had tripped and Gaara had pissed her off with his seemingly simple words. Well, she now had a good excuse for tripping. It was beginning to get dark out, and Sakura could hear the other girls around her exclaiming when they stubbed their toes, or just plain cursing at the lack of light.

Sucking on her tongue, Sakura could still taste her dinner in her mouth. It had been really good, for cafeteria food. Especially the rice pudding they'd had for dessert.

Sakura chuckled when they finally reached the clearing. Temari led the group to the firepit, and everyone seated themselves on the fallen logs surrounding the pit. Sakura sat inbetween Tenten and Hinata, and across from Temari. The circle was tight, so Sakura could easily see the gap left intentionally right next to Temari. She supposed it was for Gaara.

Temari got the fire started while the other girls chatted, and Hinata and Tenten engaged Sakura in a conversation she couldn't slip out of. Luckily, the pinkette didn't actually have to say much, because suddenly Temari stood up in front or a large, and still growing, fire. Gaara had inconspicuously slipped into his spot when Sakura wasn't looking, and she felt herself looking at his face much longer than needed.

_His eyes are weird, like they're reflecting the fire._

_**I know, cool right?**_

_It's weird, though. Weird, wonderful, creepy..._

_**Are you just going to describe them? Babe, you could **__**easily**__** get lost in **__**those**__** orbs.**_

_Yeah, I bet I could. Hey, wait, Temari's saying something._

_**Then stop talking to me and listen!**_

_I was only thinking! NO one asked you to say anything!_

_**Shut up! Temari's talking!**_

"So, right now, we have a few hours before lights out and bedcheck. I'd have us stay up later, but it was a tiring day, and we should all get a good rest for tomorrow." Looking around Temari pointed to Sakura and said, "Sakura, let's have you start off with the scary stories."

All the girls squealed. Hinata hid her face in her hands, and whispered, "D-don't make it t-too scary, okay?" Tenten shot her fist in the air and shouted, "Yes! I can't wait until my turn! I'm going to give you all _nightmares_!"

Sakura stared across the fire to Temari, who had calmly seated herself on the log next to Gaara. "Why me?" she asked, staring with a fierce determination, even though her face was blank. "I don't know any good ghost stories, and I'm not much of a storyteller, so why me?"

Temari grinned her infamous grin, and Sakura had to bite her lip so as not to reach across the fire and smack her. "Well, Sakura-chan, I knew you'd probably be the person with the least reaction to the stories, and I wanted to see how you reacted to your _own _story."

"That didn't make sense," Sakura said flatly, her eyes slits. She hadn't shown this little emotion in a while...ever since she'd moved to the school. Those first few weeks had been spent with blank looks and hoarse, under-used voices.

Temari only shrugged at Sakura's reply and said, "Don't blame me, blame the author. (**Muahahha!!! That's right, blame me! BLAME ME!**)

Sakura sighed, what a repetetive action. "Fine, what the fuck ever. But, it's going to be a stupid story," she cautioned, standing up. "I'm not a great story-teller, as I mentioned earlier, so it'll be boring and crap."

Encouraging smiles beamed up at her, and Sakura actually felt excited for a moment. To stand up and tell a story...she would try her best to make it realistic. Although, for Hinata's sake...

She'd do her best. Regardless.

-----------

Hey, look! Proof that I've gone crazy! Yay! Actually, I think it's all the medications the doctor gave me. Stuff for bronchitis, and strep throat, and something else...I even had to get an inhaler! Really pisses me off, I had to take two days off from school, but it's the weekend now. I'm going to have a lot to make up when I get back. So, I'm updating while I still can. Ja ne!


	7. Chapter 7

Alright, so this chapter is basically going to be Sakura's campfire story, but I might add more. I'm so TOTALLY winging it right now. I think the story'll be a wacked up fruit-loopy version of ten different stories I've ever heard put into one. Or, I'll just copy a story out on my books, and give credits at the end. We'll see. -

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Sakura was standing in front of the fire, trying to remember the story her friend had told her several years ago. She pictured his face, how it had suddenly become so serious, adding to the suspense of the story. Taking a deep breath, she shuffled her feet in teh dirt. "I told you, it's not that good," she warned again. Several pairs of eyes looked back up at her, shining brightly with the light from the campfire.

"Anyway," she continued, not yet ready to get to the story,"a friend told me this story a long time ago, and I thought it would be fitting since we're near a lake. It's pretty lame, but it freaked me out the first time I heard it. So, here goes."

"Apparently a young girl named Kitahoshi was getting bad grades in all of her classes. She begged and pleaded with her parents to let her go to a field trip that was much similar to ours. The entire class was going to a camp on a lake, and Kitahoshi would be the only one not going if her parents wouldn't let her. In an attempt to not be left behind, Kitahoshi studied hard for all of her tests, and made sure her parents checked her homework every night. In no time at all, her grades began to rise."

Sakura stared into the fire. It was amazingly quiet around the campfire; was her story that captivating? "Kitahoshi was so glad when her parents announced their consent for her to go on the camping trip. She immediately started packing for the 2-day, 1 night trip. She was so excited she even called up her friends to tell them the good news. Kitahoshi just couldn't wait for the trip she'd worked so hard for. That night, Kitahoshi found the northern star, her namesake, and made a wish upon it. Her wish was to have a wonderful time during the trip."

The crickets chirruping in the bushes seemed so loud in the silence that occured whenever Sakura shut her mouth. "When the day of the trip came around, Kitahoshi was sure she was going to have a fun, entertaining trip. The class arrived at the camp, and Kitahoshi found herself enjoying the time spent with her friends and teachers. All too soon, the day ended, and Kitahoshi and her best friend, Ami, rested in the cabin they shared."

"That night, Kitahoshi woke up in cold sweat. She felt herself being pulled out of bed by some unseen force. She tried to call out to Ami, but her voice was stuck in her throat. Kitahoshi could do nothing as she opened the door of the cabin and disappeared into the night."

"Hitahoshi walked for several minutes before finding herself at the edge of the lake. Trees surrounded the beach area, or rather, and small strip of land covered in muddy sand. Kitahoshi was suprised to find a boy sitting in teh sand, staring out at the water. When she looked at him, he seemed to shine. Dismissing the idea as a trick of the moonlight, Kitahoshi tried to call out to the boy. Again, her voice was stuck. But the boy noticed her. He turned and smiled at her, a brilliant smile that made her heart skip a few beats."

"Hey, wait!" Tenten interrupted. "I thought this was supposed to be a scary story; you're turning it into a romance!" A few of the girls gave Tenten death glares, while Hinata gave a nervous chuckled and muttered something about, 'liking the romance better'.

"Well, it gets scarier later on," Sakura spat. Tenten had ruined the climactic build-up! Now the ending wouldn't be as good. Geez, she had been really getting into the story, too.

"Anyway, back to the story." The circle of girls (and Gaara) instantly quieted. "As I was saying, the boy smiled a brilliant smile. Then he stood and walked over to Kitahoshi, the smile lingering on his beautiful face. 'I'm so glad you came!' he said, brown locks fluttering in the breeze. Kitahoshi was sure he was some sort of god, and she felt dazed by the sound of his voice. 'I'm so glad you came,' the boy said again, wrapping a finger around one of Kitahoshi's locks of hair. 'Make sure you come tomorrow,' he said, before disappearing."

"The light was instantly gone, and Kitahoshi found that she could move and talk freely. The prospect of being able to see the boy again excited her, but then a heavy thought dawned on her. He had asked her to come back tommorow, and most likely at night. The whole class would be gone by then! But, she had to see him again." sakura's voice hitched as she attempted to add effects to the story's narration. "Kitahoshi didn't give up, however. She found her way back to the cabin and slept fitfully, dreaming of ways she could meet the boy again, before she left to go back home."

One of the girls squealed. "Oh!!! I hope they see each other again!" she prayed, holding her hands together and wiggling around in her seat.

"Shut up, Sabethe. You're ruining it when you wiggle around like a fish out of water," Temari informed her team member. Sabethe put on a face, and Sakura shook her head, continuing with the story.

"The first thing Kitahoshi did when she woke up was to head out the cabin door. She ran as fast as she could in the direction of the trees and the sandy strip of land. When she got there, she doubled over, exausted from her run. Looking up, she came face to face with te boy she had sdreamed about so much teh previous night."

"'Good morning!' the boy said. he held out his hand, and Kitahoshi gratefully took it. 'I don't believe we've been introduced. My name's Yukio. What about you?' Kitahoshi had always been told to never give her name to strangers, but this boy seemed different. He seemed so harmless, with his smiling face and kind, honest gestures. Surely it wouldn't hurt to give him her name, would it?"

"'My name's Kitahoshi,' the she replied. 'I came, like you asked me to.' At this, Yukio laughed. 'Yes, I suppose you did, and I thank you for it.' Kitahoshi was certainly very confused, but she hid it well. 'If I may ask, why _did _you ask me to come back?'"

"Yukio gave Kitahoshi a very mystevious and seductive look. Fingering her hair like he had the night before, he cooed, 'I wanted to spend time with you, of course. Kitahoshi, _I'm in love with you._"

"Damn it!" Tenten shouted. "I KNEW you were going to turn it ooshy-mooshy. Damn you!"

Sakura gave her friend a cold stare. "Shut the fuck up, I'm not done yet." Tenten, surprised by her friend's extreme change in attitude, sat back down and decided to stay quiet until Sakura was done. Like the pinkette had said, she wasn't done. Right?

Sakura sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Damn, this story is getting now-where." Criees of, "But we love your sotry!" and "But it's getting to the really good parts!" erupted around the campfire. Against her better judgement, Sakura decided to keep going. "Fine, but I'm wrapping it up quickly," she commented to the girls, who all gave her sullen looks.

"Where was I? Ah, yes. Intrigued by Yukio's words, Kitahoshi spent the rest of the day with the mysterious boy. They sat on the strip of land, right up by the water. Conversation insued, and every know and then Yukio would change the subject. Before Kitahoshi knew it, it was beginning to get dark, and she knew the teachers and other childrean would be worried about her. 'I have to go now, but I'll try to come back and visit you one day.' Yukio smiled his infamous smile, and Kitahoshi reluctantly left him, sitting there by the lake all alone."

"Kitahoshi was in big trouble when she got back to the cabins. Her closest friends clung to her, sobbing about how worrie they had been, while Kitahoshi got a grand scolding from the teachers in charge. When asked what she had been doing, Kitahoshi only replied, 'I was talking with Yukio.' The teachers, who were mad at the girl for worrying everyone so much, just dismissed hte thought and helped everyone else load up the bus for the trip back home. When the camp supervisors came to the bus to say goodbye, they heard the story of Kitahoshi and Yukio."

"'Might you know who the Yukio boy is? I'd like him to be found, so that his own parents or teachers aren't worrying about him.' the teacher said. The camp supervisor looked confused, and then said, 'Yukio...hasn't visited this camp for more than 10 years. He drowned at the lake on that short strip of sand behind the cabins, when he was swinging from the branches of a tree and fell, hitting his head on the rocks in the sand. When the other camp supervisors found him, they deducted that he had rolled down the sand into the water, and, unable to breathe, suffocated from lack of oxygen.'"

"Needless to say, ths shocked the poor teacher. One of her own students had talked with a ghost! All day, in fact. Deciding to keep it a secret from Kitahoshi, the teacher thanked the supervisor and boarded the bus. That teacher made sure that the class never went to that particular camp again. And Kitahoshi, well, Yukio _literally _haunted her dreams."

Sakura gave a dejected sigh and took a step back so she could sit in her spot. "That's it?" Temari asked, a hint of disappointement in her voice.

"Of course that's it," Sakura said gloomily. "I, the worst storyteller ever, can't think up anything else. Just pick on someone else."

"Hmm..." Temari said, looking around the circle. "I thought it was a pretty good story, but it's getting late, and I want to eat some smores now. If we have time, we can have someone else tell a story, but I doubt it." Sakura just shrugged and took the graham crackers Hinata handed her. Smacking a piece of choclate on top, Sakura snuck a marshmallow out of Tenten's hand when she wasn't looking, and stuck it on a pointy stick that appeared out of nowhere. Roasting the marshmallow over the fire, the girl sighed happily. Now _this_ was camping.

Later, after everyone had indulged in teh marshmallowy, choclately sensation, Temari looked at her watch and almost choked. They had a max of 5 minutes until the camp counselor came around to make sure they were in their beds. "Alright everyone, I'll clean up. Go back to your cabins and go to sleep. I want you all refreshed for tomorrow." Girls rushed around in the dark, guided only by the light of the fire. "Wait." someone said.

It was Gaara. Smirking, he shoved his hands into his pockets and continued," It'd be best to let you know that I saw a shady figure walking around earlier this morning. You never know if he could come near our cabins, so _watch for the signs_." Knowing eyes glowed in the darkness. they glowed, but not out of fear. All, but one pair, that is. Sakura Haruno's eyes were perfectly fine, thank you very much.

Sakura shrugged off Gaara's announcement and headed to the cabin. She wasn't afraid of a drunk idiot wandering around under the name of a 'shady character'. She had other business to attend to, like the making of her bed, because she obviously wasn't going to sleep in the same bed as that jerk, Gaara!

Searching around in the cabinets of the kitchen area, Sakura finally found a blanket. Taking off one of the pillows from the bed, she arranged the pillow and blanket so that she was sleeping alongside the fireplace - halfway across the room from the jerk.

Sakura was already curled up in a small ball when Gaara walked in. He was accompanied by the camp counselor, and the two seemed to be chatting pleasantly.

"Alright then, I see Ms. Sakura's already here and asleep, by the looks of it. Have a good night's rest, you two!" the cheery voice of the lady faded as she left the cabin, walking back to the main clearing.

"She doesn't look too closely, does she?" Sakura asked. It had been pretty obvious she wasn't asleep.

"Hn," was her only response. Sakura flipped over so that she could see the faint outline of Gaara as he climbed into the bed, lifting the covers to slide his legs under. Sakura gave a tiny sigh and stared up at the ceiling. She was finding it hard to get to sleep, suddenly.

"Haruno, you're not actually thinking about sleeping on the floor, are you? I mean, the bugs and dirt, the cold, hopeless feeling you get when your skin touches the boards--"

"Gaara, stop it! You're giving me the chills!"

Sakura could almost sense his smirk. "But the bed is much better right? You're welcome to it, if you'd like."

Sakura was...shocked. Was the great Gaara trying to be nice? Needless to say, the man's earlier words had creeped her out. Sakura wasn't much of a bug-lover anyway, and the thought of all those ants and roaches...crawling under and over her blanket while she slept fitfully...

She was in the bed within a moment's notice. it was awkward at first, because she didn't want to move aorund too much and disturb Gaara, and she wanted to get under the covers and comfortable. Sliding under the blankets, Sakura adjusted with as little movement possible.

When she could finally rest comfortably, Sakura began to take note of her surroundings. the crickets were still chirping outside, and the comfortable rise and fall of the body next to her lulled Sakura into a half-sleep daze. Both of the teens were on their sides, facing away from each other, and Sakura could faintly feel Gaara's back brush against hers every other breath.

"Gaara," she mumbled. "Thank you."

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Sorry for any spelling mistakes! bows deeply I didn't have time to reread it before posting it, because my parents are telling me to go to sleep, and I'm halfheartedly agreeing with them! Anyway, enjoy! Ja ne!


	8. Chapter 8

Hehe, you should all check out my bio! It has upcoming stories and such...I want to know which to start with. You guys are a big influence on my life! cries Or, at least, my fanfic life! -

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Sakura woke up with a start. The bluejay that was twittering outside the window flew away, off in search of more worms and such. Rustling aorund in the sheets, the pinkette saw that she was not the only one in the bed. Close to panicking, Sakura spasmed in surprise and fell off the edge of the bed, creating a loud thunk that resonated throughout the small cabin.

Ah...yes. That's right. Gaara had invited her to sleep in the bed last night, because of the bugs and the 'cold floor that gave her shivers'. Sakura chuckled nervously, embarassed by her hasty reaction.

"Good. You're up," a voice said. Sakura jumped a little, and then realized it was only Gaara. The red-head shuffled aorund under the sheets for a moment, and then Sakura heard the soft thud of feet hitting the floor, and watched as Gaara's figure rose to show him standing on the other side of the bed.

Sakura could barely stifle her laugh as she watched her roommate stumble across the room to the kitchen area. She tried standing up to follow him, but fell back on her butt as her legs gave out from poor circulation. Trying again to stand up, Sakura sat back on the bed and gazed out the cabin window.

"It's still pretty dark out," Sakura commented, earning a grunt from Gaara. "Do you know the time?"

Gaara rattled around in the cabinets for a moment before replying grumpily, "Yeah, sometime after waking up, and not too soon before falling back asleep." Sakura made a face at his unenthusiastic response, but instead of complaining she jogged over to her backpack and rummaged in the sidepockets for a moment, before pulling out a watch.

"If this is right, it's only 6:34 A.M., so we still have half an hour before we have to meet Temari and the others out in the clearing." _It'd be a nice time to take a shower,_ she added silently.

"Hn," the boy replied, wandering around the cabin, ending up on the bed again. Sakura was amused at his laziness, but the call for a shower lured her into action. "Unfortunately, not everyone is bed-ridden like you. So, I'll be back in a while." Sakura grabbed her backpack and was about to walk out the cabindoor when Gaara stopped her.

"You aren't going outside the clearing, are you?" he asked, a tint of concern misted over the tone in his voice. Sakura stuck her tongue out at him and said, "No, I'm going to take a shower, because I actually care about my hygeine." Gaara rolled his eyes and said, "Whatever, but just to tell you, Temari wants to go swimming after practice, so you can just put your bathing suit on under you clothes, instead of waiting to change."

Sakura turned red. She didn't want to know why he had told her that. Did he really hang around girls that much? (Remeber, she doesnt know he's Temari's brother, and probably thinks he's an only child.) "I was _planning _on it," she spat out, and rushed out the door, if only to hide her red face rather than to get to her nice shower faster.

It was really cool outside, and Sakura hoped it would warm up later, otherwise the lake water would be too cold. She would go swimming anyway, even if it _was_ cold, but warm water was much nicer. The terrifying thought of not having warm water to take her shower with scared Sakura for a moment, so she rushed over to the shower/bathroom building.

Luckily, there _was_ hot water, as well as warm. Pulling out her bathing suit and a pair of extremely baggy clothes, Sakura walked around the bathroom before finding a large stack of fluffy, white, towels in a stand up cabinet near the sinks. Grabbing one (YES, she only uses one for her body and hair, it's weird, I know), the girl took her bathing suit and towel out to the shower area. Nervous at the fact of taking a shower out in the open, with only a thick board fence to seperate her from sneaky eyes, the girl walked back into the bathroom and stripped, donning her swimming suit before stepping back out to the showers.

More confident now that she was decent, the girl turned on the nearest shower and waited for it to turn warm before stepping under the stream of water.

"Ahhhh..." Sakura felt her worries slip away as the lukewarm water hit her chilled skin, and then the effect of stepping out of the water and letting the cold air wash over her.

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Sakura's wet hair clung to her neck and did not bounce as much as she stepped out of the bath house, for better wording of it. Her baggy, navy blue T-shirt was wet at the very tops of the shoulders and a few spots down the back where her hair had dripped.

Glancing around the clearing, Sakura could hear the telltale signs of women waking up and starting their day. _I better go into the cabin and tell Gaara to get his butt in gear, or we'll be waiting for him._

Sakura, following her thought's commands, slipped into the cabin, dropping her bag near the table and tiptoing over to the form laying bed. Raising her arms up, she got into the position to scare when she was scared herself.

"What are you doing?" A pair of sea foam green eyes looked up at her. The pinkette had been to busy to realize that Gaara's eyes had been open...the whole time.

"Oh, ah hahaha..." Sakura said, lowering one arm and putting the other behind her head. "I was going to try to scare you awake, but since you were already awake..."

"I don't sleep." Gaara's reply came suddenly. Sakura felt very awkward, so she scooted away from the bed and stood by the window, watching as a few of the other girls came out of the cabins to take their showers. "Oh..." she said softly. "Well, anyway, you better start getting ready. We only have 15 or so minutes."

Sakura stood still by the window, not bothering to turn around as Gaara rummaged in his own backpack, and then she heard the door slam shut, creaking on it's hinges from it's misabuse. She couldn't see his form as it slipped off to the 'bath house', as she had so royally dubbed it.

Sighing, Sakura turned to go sit on the bed. Eyeing the disheveled sheets, the girl stripped the blankets and pillows off, remaking the bed properly before laying spread eagled on top. She closed her eyes...letting the comfortable silence and the dimmed sounds coming from outside wash over her...

_Like a water over a rock on the strip of land where Yukio hit his head._

Sakura immediately shot up until she was in a sitting position. Where had that thought come from? Yukio wasn't even a real person? His death wasn't real! Her friend had even assured her that it wasn't real, when she had cried the first time she heard the story.

But...it had _seemed_ real.

Had her story-telling last night been a dream? Had the goings-on really been different, and her thoughts had just erased them, replacing them with fake hallucinations? Sakura lay back down to calm herself. She could always ask Gaara when he came back in.

As if on cue, the red-head stepped in through the cabin door a moment after her thoughts had finished.

"Gaara!" Sakura exclaimed. "Hey, about last night, what...the hell?"

Gaara looked from her confused eyes to his own body. Ah, his mistake. He had forgotten to dry off his upper half, and because the air felt so good on his bare skins, had forgotten the need for a shirt.

Like he said, his mistake.

Sakura's eyes ran over his finely tuned muscles, dripping wet with tiny drops of clear water, like she had never seen them before. Forcing herself to look away, Sakura twisted around behind her and grabbed a pillow off of the bed, throwing it at her roommate with a shriek of, "Put a shirt on, idiot! This is a _girl's_ volleyball team, show some concideration!"

Gaara blocked the pillow from hitting his head and threw it back at the girl, who was sulking heavily on the bed, and didn't even feel the pillow hitting her side. Shrugging, he shook out the shirt that was hanging under his arm and pulled it on over his head. "There, happy?" he grunted. He was amused at the quick glance given to him, and then the girl mumbled something that sounded like, 'fine, but don't get used to it'.

At that moment, the two heard Temari whistle for everyone to meet up in the clearing. Glad to escape the cabin, Sakura jumped out of the bed and rushed past a grinning Gaara out the cabin door. She had completely forgotten about the question that had been on her mind.

But life always gives many chances.

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Yay! I can't wait till the next chapter! It's going to be some Gaara and Sakura bonding time! And guess what? **They actually aren't trying to kill each other!!!** So, review, and like I said, please vote on what story you want me to do next!


	9. Chapter 9

Woot! Okee, sorry for not updating! _My _volleyball team's been pretty busy! Clap for us, we won our last game! clap, clap Okay, I've been waiting for this chapter for like, ever. Again, it contains one of htose ideas I don't think up until half way through the story, so, yeah. Onwards!

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Sakura and Tenten leaned heavily upon each other, each holding a shoulder for support. They and the rest of the team had just run up and down the shore 5 times. And that shore was REALLY long. Luckily, Temari was beening considerate, and had let them take a small 5-second break halfway through.

"Okay!" the cheerful captain said, clapping her hands to get the team's attention. Now that we've done a few laps, let's stretch, and then we can scrimmage and make complete fools of ourselves while we get adjusted to shuffling in the sand. Sound good?"

Sakura gasped in another lungful of air and groaned. "Temari, please. A few more minutes? It's not even that late in the morning and it's already freaking hot out."

Temari clicked her tongue and replied, "Well, Sakura, that's only because you're still in your pajamas. You have your bathing suit on underneath, right? Then just take your shirt and shorts off. If you think about it, they're only weighing you down. In, fact, let's everybody practice in our bathing suits!"

A few of the girls on the team cheered, luckily to be free of the shorts and other clothes they had been wearing, eager to get a start on their tans. However, modest people, such as Hinata, Sakura, and Tenten, were less than enthusiastic.

"Um, Temari, do we have to?" Tenten asked nervously. Her mom had repacked her bag when the girl hadn't been looking, and her oh-so-thoughtful mother had decided that a one-piece hadn't been flashy enough for her _little girl_. Hence, Tenten was stuck with her least favorite swimming suit, a black and white bikini with a matching halter top. Geez, the things she accepted for Christmas...

Hinata, as good as her friends said her body looked, could not bear going out in public without decent clothing on. Gaara's precense was also frightening her a bit, even though the girl knew he would never dare to think of her that way. In fact, Gaara also knew that if he was even _suspected _of looking at Hinata in any naughty ways, he would have an anger over-protective cousin to deal with when they got back home.

And Sakura? Well...she was Sakura. Not really caring what other people thought of her, sometimes in a lazy mood that she picked up from spending too much time with a distant friend, Shikamaru, and the fact that she, like Tenten, also didn't like her bathing suit.

"Temari," the pinkette began hesitantly. "Couldn't I at least keep my shorts on? And, I could roll up the sleeves on my shirt like we do at practice, and..."

Sakura was cut off by a hand covering her mouth. "Just shut up and do what she says. The faster we get this practice over, the faster we can cool down and go swimming." Sakura wanted so badly to bite that hand. That hand that belonged only to Gaara, the great, evil Gaara.

"Fine, fine," Temari said in a defeated tone. "You can keep the shorts on, but I at least want to see what your bathing suit looks like!" Temari giggled, and Sakura rolled her eyes. Temari could possibly be the only one thinking about fashion right now.

Sighing in defeat, the three girls turned their backs to the rest of the group and began to strip to their bathing suits. Hinata and Tenten also kept on their shorts, much to Sakura's pleasure. She was glad she wasn't going to be an oddball.

When the three were done, they dropped their clothes into a small pile by the trees surrounding the beach and went over to join the other girls in stretching. When they were done, Temari shouted out positions, and the girls filled them. Thus began the team scrimmage.

----------(4 embarassing scrimmages and several large blunders later)

"Geez, I think I have ten different bruises on my butt!" Tenten exclaimed, rubbing her sore backside. Sakura and Hinata laughed; they also knew how the poor girl felt.

"I've never felt like such a fool in my life!" Sakura laughed, remembering a few of the times she had tripped over her own feet, or in most of the cases, tripped over the sand. Hinata and Tenten agreed, and the three picked up their bags and followed the rest of the group down the shore, to the official swimming area.

"Well, after we find a spot on the beach, let's go get some ice cream!" Tenten said, eyeing the signs and fences they were walking past. "I heard they have a small restraunt off the beach shore, and that the restraunt's got the best ice cream for miles!"

Sakura and Hinata nodded their heads in unison. "A-alright!" Hinata said, giving her friends a brilliant smile.

"Hey! Look! We're here!" Sakura said, spotting the lifeguard's post and the few scattered towels and umbrellas running along the beach. "Somehow I thought there would be more people here, but since it is the camp's property, I guess it isn't exactly open to the public, huh?" Tenten and Hinata shook their heads no silently, both were looking for good spots that would be easy to find once they came back from the restraunt.

"Hey, let's put our stuff down there!" Sakura pointed to an empty rectangle of space right next to Temari, who was currently sitting on an open beach towel, applying sunblock. Tenten shrugged, and Hinata smiled.

"Mind if we drop our stuff here?" Sakura asked. Temari nodded and gave the girls a big grin before adjusting her bathing suit top. I'm going for a swim, you girls wanna come?" she asked, heading out towards the clear, blue water.

"No thanks," Tenten answered. "We're going to get ice cream first, before it gets way too hot out." Temari frowned and then shrugged. "Okay, come back when you're done." The girls waved goodbye as they jogged towards the edge of the beach, in the opposite direction of the water.

Unfortunately for Sakura, the three ran into someone on their way. "Oh, sorry," Sakura said as she bumped into a tall, familiar figure.

"No prob. Where are you girls going, anyway?" Tenten and Hinata grinned, but Sakura scowled. She had just bumped into Gaara! And he wanted to know where they were leaving to!

Before Sakura could say, 'None of your business,' Temari answered, "We're going to get ice cream from the beach's restraunt. Want to come with?"

Sakura's jaw dropped. Tenten had just invited her worst nightmare to get ice cream with them! Sakura silently begged Hinata to disagree, but, as usual, the girl was silent. She even beamed at the boy for a moment, before her shy nature took over and she blushed.

"Hmm...I suppose I could join you." Sakura seethed. He was acting so pleasant! He _**must**_ know how badly he was torturing her now!

Tenten grabbed Sakura hand and the four of them walked down to the beach restraunt, which in actuality wasn't all that far from the beach itself. In fact, the restraunt was more of a shack, with several umbrella tables on the patio in front of it.

Tenten skipped up to the window and scanned the menu, quickly finding what she wanted. "I'd like a banana spilt, please! Um, Hinata, what is it you usually get?"

"A chocolate cherry milkshake," the girl replied quietly. Spotting it on the menu, she pointed it out, and Tenten ordered it. Turning to Sakura as the lady behind the counter walked off to make the desserts, Tenten grinned and said, "Looks like you and Gaara have to split the tab!" Sakura glared at the girl, but she ignored it.

When the lady came back with Tenten and Hinata's treats, Tenten paid and the lady looked expectantly at Sakura and Gaara. Gaara, who was now completely silent, pushed Sakura up to the window and Sakura guessed she was the one who was to order.

"Oh! Um...I suppose I'll have a two-scoop on a cone, please."

"What flavor?"

"Um...chocolate please."

"Alright. And for the young man?" Sakura turned to Gaara and asked him, "Gaara, what are you getting? You better order now, before I decide not to pay for you."

Gaara just shrugged and answered nonchalantly, "I'm not getting anything. You won't be able to eat your ice cream anyway, it'd be a waste to throw it away."

Sakura knew it was an insult, but she didn't know why the red-head was predicting her difficulties in eating a simple ice cream cone! Shrugging, she turned to the lady and said, "I guess that's it. Stubborn over there isn't going to have anything." The lady winked and went to get Sakura's ice cream.

Sakura turned to Gaara and crossed her arms. "What do you mean, 'You won't be able to eat it anyway'? It's just ice cream!" Gaara smirked at her and reached out to ruffle her hair. Sakura pouted, he was treating her like a baby! A little girl who had big dreams just to finish a single cone!

"Here's your ice cream!" the lady said cheerfully. Sakura turned around and bit her lip. The lady sure wasn't stingy when it came to ice cream cones! Sakura thanked the lady and paid for the ice cream, taking it over to the table Tenten and Hinata had selected. Gaara followed behind her, a smirk on his face.

"Hey, Sakura! Wow! That's a lot of ice cream! Can you even eat that much? Gaara, what did you get?"

Gaara showed Tenten his empty hands, and Sakura sullenly translated. "He heard me say I wanted a double-scoop, because I didn't know I'd be getting this much ice cream. The smart ass is only here to get dibs on whatever I can't eat." Gaara grinned, and Temari laughed. Hinata chuckled after swallowing a mouthful of her shake.

"Yeah, I suppose we forgot to tell you that the reason this place is famous is because you get tons of ice cream for so little money! It's pretty funny, though!" Tenten laughed and took another bite of her sundae, swallowing before she continued. "We better eat fast though. I want to go swimming as soon as possible."

Sakura made a face. "Haven't you ever heard of waiting an hour after you eat?"

Tenten shook her plastic spoon at Sakura and said in a mock menacing tone, "Shut up and eat your ice cream little girl."

Sakura rolled her eyes and tasted the ice cream. It was amazingly good. Licking off a bit more, she took a small bite, relishing the cold sensation the ice cream gave her front teeth when she bit in directly. Taking a few more bites, it wasn't long before Sakura felt someone slide their chair up to her and lean in close. Feeling a shift in the ice cream, Sakura blinked and pulled the ice cream away from her face.

In the ice cream was a long trail, the telltale signs of someone else tasting her ice cream. The trail was on the left, and conciquently, so was Gaara. The boy licked his lips and smirked, leaning back in his chair. His eyes were closed, and so he didn't see the realization, shock, and anger on Sakura's face.

"**GAARA!**" she shrieked. "You ate my ice cream! And I'm not even done!"

The boy frowned and opened his eyes, turning to stare at the freaked girl. "What? You didn't expect me to wait for you to be completely done, did you? It's already starting to melt; it'd be a puddle before I got a taste of it!"

Sakura stared at the boy, eyes wide, for a moment longer, before she resigned to her fate and handed him the ice cream cone. "There. We can just take turns." Gaara accepted the cone and looked at it for a bit before he began to lick it, much like Sakura had done when _she_ had just gotten it.

Tenten and Hinata watched this exchange with wide eyes. They had known this would happen, but Sakura was actually accepting it? They had expected something a bit more...violent. The one thought that was running through their minds? _Wow, the world ended and we felt no pain whatsoever..._

The table was pretty quiet as Sakura and Gaara passed the ice cream cone back and forth. When everyone was done, they threw away their trash and headed back out to the beach. Gaara disappeared soon after the three girls made their way over to the towels laid out for them.

Sakura looked on as her friends slathered on sunscreen. She would go into the water later. Sitting down on her towel, Sakura watched lazily as Tenten and Hinata hurried over to the cool water. Laying back on the towel, she looked up at the sky. Licking her lips, she could still taste the chocolate ice cream on her lips.

_Mmm...today wasn't so bad, _she thought. _I still have 5 days here...I really hope they last..._

Sakura could never know that she'd _definitely _get her wish.

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Mm...chocolate ice cream! I want some! I wanna share an ice cream cone with Gaara too! cries Anyway, sniffle, I hope this was a bit of a longer chapter. I want to end this series soon, cause I have so many freaking ideas! I have to get them down before I forget them! Ja ne!


	10. Chapter 10

Okay! Please check out my two new stories! They're pretty good, I must admit! I'll keep working hard, just for you guys! cries I need a hug! My brain is rotting away from working so hard, but you guys are so nice! sniffle I owe you guys so much!

Also, special thanks to alana124pyro! Her reviews keep me going! hugs Everyone should definitely check out her stories, too! They rock!

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Sakura yawned. Her internal alarm clock was ringing loudly in her head, a definite sign that she should get up and take a shower. Moving the blankets off of her legs, Sakura stumbled out of bed and grabbed her bag from beside the table. Glancing back to the bed to make sure that Gaara was still asleep, Sakura opened the screen door and walked off towards the showers.

After taking her regular shower and getting dressed in a pair of mini-shorts and a tanktop with her swimming suit underneath, Sakura dropped her stuff back into the cabin. Looking at her wristwatch, she noticed she still had half an hour before the team was to start practice.

Deciding to take a walk, Sakura strapped on her tennis shoes and jogged to one of the trails leading off from the cabin's clearing. Once she was a good ways away from the clearing, Sakura began to walk, taking in the beautiful nature around her. Sakura traced a butterfly's path through the air with a finger, and stopped ot watch a squirrel scamper across the path.

The path was getting brighter and brighter as the sun came up. The natural light shone in from between the leaves of the trees. Birds chirped and Sakura hummed along with their morning song. A sudden conpulsion to look at her watch made her gasp.

"Oh my god! I have to get back to the cabins before Temari kills me!" Sakura turned and made a motion to take a step forward, but stopped when she saw a figure leaning against a tree. Thinking back, Sakura realized he hadn't been there when she had walked back this way.

"Um, excuse me," she said to the figure. The figure just leaned against the tree as if she wasn't there.

"Excuse me!" she called again. Walking a few strides forward, she said, "Can I help you?"

Sakura watched, fixated to the spot as the figure stood up straight and walked over to stand in front of her. Gaara's warning to the girls flashed through her head.

'_It'd be best to let you know that there's been a shady figure walking around. You never know if he could come towards the cabins, so __watch for the signs_.'

Sakura looked, now completely terrified, at the figure coming towards her. _Could he be...the shady character Gaara was talking about? I hope not, I'm way too far away from the cabins to be able to shout for help. And that reminds me, I'm going to be late, so even if I could get back, Temari'd kick my ass anyway._

"Your name is Sakura, right?" the figure asked. Sakura jumped. He knew her name!

"Y-yes," she answered back. Sakura blinked when the guy looked up at her and smiled. It was a sweet sort of smile, not something she'd expect from a 'shady' character. The guy held out his hand, and Sakura looked at it as if it would bite her.

"My name's Sasuke," he said, the pleasant smile still lingering on his lips. "It's really nice to meet you!"

Sakura steped forward, still suspicious, but took Sasuke's hand anyway. "Y-yeah, nice to meet you too," she replied, shaking his hand with her own shaking one.

"You have to go, right?" Sasuke asked, tilting his head to the side a bit, as if he were trying to read her mind. Sakura gasped and said, "Oh my gosh, yes! Temari is going to kill me!" Sakura clasped her hand to her chest and bowed politely to Sasuke. "I'm really sorry I have to leave so soon after meeting you, but my team coach will seriously murder me if I'm this late, so bye!" Sakura started to run past Sasuke, but he reached out an arm and caught her before she could go too far.

"I want to see you tomorrow," he said calmly, looking deeply into Sakura's green eyes. "Meet me here tomorrow, earlier, please." Sakura was hypnotized by Sasuke's deep, black eyes until a voice screamed in her head. "A-ah, right! I will!" Grabbing her arm from Sasuke's grasp, Sakura ran off, waving back to Sasuke as she left. "See you tomorrow," she yelled.

Sasuke smirked. Hey, this plan was actually going pretty well.

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And now...THERE'S A PLAN!?! The characters are creating their own story behind my back again...bad characters! Bad!

Arigato to everyone who read and reviewed on my other (NEW) stories. If you haven't done so, please do! It would encourage me a lot more!

Also, sorry this chap is so short! I wanted to update, so I left it with a cliffy, and later you get to face TEMARI'S FURY! MUAHAHHAHA cough cough Ja ne!


	11. Chapter 11

Ah, jeez. I hate school. It seriously sucks. I don't know how I balance everything in my life without toppling over. I suppose priorities must come first, but if all my priorities came first, I'd never have any time to write on fanfiction! That, or I'd spend all my time on here!

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Sakura winced. "Um, Temari, I'm really, _really_ sorry. I promise I won't do it again, I swear!"

Temari wiped her nose and looked at Sakura with red, puffy, eyes. "You BETTER not, Haruno. You freakin' gave me a freakin' heart attack. Where the hell did you go, anyway?" the team captain demanded. Sakura looked around guiltily, other members of the group also had red eyes and were clinging to each, unable to stop the tears.

"I went on an early morning walk, cause I still had a lot of time before you guys even had to get ready, but I guess I lost track of time, and right as I was about to turn around and come back, this weird guy appeared." Sakura hung her head with shame, she had made all of her team mates worry! Well, all except one, that is.

Gaara walked up behind Sakura and smacked her on the head. "Dumbass, do you know how much we searched to try and find you? And then, when we couldn't find you, all the stupid girls started crying for me to go to the main clearing and call a search party. I was just getting ready to leave, too, when you showed up!" gaara's eyes were filled with anger, and Sakura cowered.

"I'm, I'm r-really s-sorry," she began to sob. Gaara gave her an interesting look, and then turned away. "Don't let it happen again," he growled. When Gaara was out of the way, all of the girls ran up to Sakura and began to hug her, crying over her.

Temari broke up the reunion with an abrupt shout. When she had everyone's attention, the captain gave a cold stare to Sakura and told her, 'We've been waiting for a while now, if you're ready to go, let's go. We've wasted plenty of practice time already."

Sakura bowed her head and nodded. "Alright then, let's go," she said quietly. She and all the other girls walked together down the path leading to the beach, but two figures stayed behind.

"So, I take it he found her?" Temari whispered.

"I'd imagine so," her brother replied. "I just hope the knucklehead pulls through with his end of it."

Temari giggled. "Jeez, that was so hard to keep a straight face while pretending to be mad at Sakura. Poor thing, she probably feels horrible. By he way, how did you get all the girls to cry so authentically?"

Gaara pulled a tiny bottle out of his pocket. Grinning, he turned it so that Temari could read the label. It read: "E-vision; Fake Tears."

Temari squinted at the bottle before laughing loudly, clutching her stomach. "Oh, I should have known!" she chuckled. "That's the oldest trick in the book!" Gaara nodded and put away his 'fake tears'.

"We better go, or Sakura might start to wonder where we are," Temari said, her chuckles dissapated. Gaara nodded and shrugged. Then the two scheming teens walked down the same path their classmates had walked down just a few minutes ago.

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Sakura dropped onto her beach towel. Things had eventually eased up, until everyone had been laughing and smiling as they bumped and set the ball back and forth. They had just gotten their free swimming time, and Sakura was preparing to enter the cold water.

"Hello!" Sakura almost screamed when a blonde haired boy suddenly appeared in her line of vision. The blonde was leaning over, feet at Sakura's head, grinning like a maniac.

Sakura immediately jumped up and backed away from the stranger. "W-who the h-hell are you?" she shouted, turning red in the face. Whether from embarassment or anger, the stranger couldn't tell.

Sticking out his hand, the boy smiled and said, "I'm Naruto! I work as a life-guard here!" Sakura blinked and took a closer look. The boy, Naruto, had on a red pair of swimming trunks, white stripes lining the sides. Sakura tried to remember what life-guards usually wore while on duty, but since she had no idea, she shrugged and shook Naruto's hand.

"I'm Sakura, nice to meet you," she said in a calm voice. Naruto only grinned at her and laughed.

"Hey, Sakura," he said, watching over a group of girls who were wading in the clear, blue water. "Would you like to play a game with me and a few others?"

Sakura shrugged and looked over at Tenten, Temari, and Hinata. The three were sitting around a beach towel, having a conversation. "Sure," she said slowly. "What kind of game?"

Naruto jumped up and down excitedly. "A fun game, duh!" he said. Momentarily forfeiting his happy actions, the blonde life-guard waved over to the water and shouted, "Hey, Gaara! Sakura's agreed to play with us!"

"Eh?" Sakura looked over in the direction Naruto was waving at, and paled. _I didn't know Gaara was going to be taking part inthe game..._she thought. Barely watching as Naruto bounced over ot Tenten and the others, Sakura sat back on her towel, determined to not let Gaara get the best of her.

_Should I play the game? If I do, Gaara might beat me, and then I'd be embarassed, but if I beat him, I'd definitely be victorious! Maybe I'd even get the bed to myself...but what about if I didn't play? Would Gaara call me a chicken? I hate that...that I actually care so much about what he thinks of me._

Sakura fell over again as Naruto popped up in her face. "Coming, Sakura?" he asked, taking her hand and pulling her away from her towel. The blonde dragged her right up to a group at the water's edge. The group consisted of Gaara, Temari, and Tenten. A tiny group, but a group none-the-less.

"Alright, let's play a game called 'Chicken'. Or, at least, I think that's what it's called..." Naruto wandered off from the topic, bu he soon got back on track. "Anyway, you have two groups of two, with one person in each group sitting on the other person's shoulders. When we go out into the water, the people on top wrestle each other until one of the groups collapse. it's a fun game, really, but the people on bottom have a hard time standing up."

Sakura counted, and then recounted. "But, we have 5 people, so there's one person who won't have a partner." Tenten perked up and grinned. "That's alright, I'm going back to sit with Hinata!" before Temari could stop her, the brunette had run off to her best friend.

"Guess that solves that problem," Sakura sighed. "So, who's on what team?" she asked. Temari immediately ran across the sand to Naruto and proudly hid behind his back. "I'm not going with that freak!" she shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Gaara.

Sakura blinked and then tried to wrestle Temari from her hiding spot behind Naruto. "Oh no you don't! I have to sleep in the same bed as him, you can at least sit on his shoulders for a minute or two!" Temari squeaked at Sakura's rage and stuttered, "N-no! N-no w-way! I'm NOT going to be his partner, and that's final!"

Sakura shook her head no, but was stopped when a hand came up and swatted her on the head. "Try to be the bigger person here, Sakura. Temari's obviously too childish to be the more responsible one." Sakura turned around to tell Gaara off for hitting her, but she was surprised when Gaara lifted her up by her waist and placed her on his shoulders.

"G-gaara, p-put me down!" the enraged girl shouted, banging on Gaara's head. Gaara just smirked, and even though Sakura couldn't see it, she knew he was silently making fun of her. "You think you're so cool just cause you can pick me up and lift me up to your shoulders, huh? Well, you aren't cool!" Sakura pouted silently, crossing her arms and raising her nose in the air. Temari and Naruto scoffed at the unfortunate girl.

"Naruto, you're on bottom," Temari suddenly deadpanned. Naruto made a funny face, and Temari realized what she had said. "You know what I mean!" she snapped. Naruto just nodded, trying to stifle the giggles coming from his mouth.

The group walked over to the water's edge and then Naruto helped Temari climb up to his shoulders. Sakura didn't feel quite so bad after her friend was in the same situation as her. Gaara and Naruto began to walk out into the deeper end, so that no one would fall off and hit their head on the lake floor.

"Okay, you guys know how to play," Naruto said cheerfully. "So, let the games begin!"

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Woot! yet another pointless chapter! We won our VB game, by the way! I scored like, the first 7 points in the first game, and the very last point. But then, we kicked but so badly I didn't hardly get to rotate into the serving position. But, hey! We won!


	12. Chapter 12

Woot! We won our championship match today, so we are going on to the finals next Saturday! The game is going to cut down on my typing time, but I can take my DNAngel notebook and work on it on the bus. I'm writing it out first, so that I only have to type it before putting it up. I actually have a good start on it, too.

Oh, also, I would like to thank alana124pyro! Her subtle threats and warnings keep me writing, because I would hate to have a cleat thrown at my head! (Alright, I kinda made that up. Payce's not that mean, but having a cleat thrown at my head WOULD be a good persuader for me to update.) Also, she was the first to guess the correct direction of the plot! I think the second was Sakura LOVE shadow! Hands peeps medals So, here you go!

Dedicated to all yo peeps out there who have ever reviewed on this story! And if you haven't reviewed, please do so! I don't even care if it's a one-worded review, anything helps!

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Sakura laughed when Temari tickled her on the sides. Gaara tightened his grasp on Sakura's knees, and she was stopped from falling backwards into the water. Pulling herself back up, Sakura leaned forward until her stomach was touching the top of Gaara's head and tried to tickled Temari back, but only succeeded in setting Gaara off-balance.

Naruto laughed when Gaara growled, letting go of one of Sakura's knees so that he could push her back. The red-head was having trouble standing up straight in the stomach-high water, and every one of Sakura's movements sent him off-balance.

Temari and Naruto, however, were experienced in the game, and were working together in sync. Sakura was amazed at how well the two played. Temari attacked Sakura again, and the pinkette had to squeeze her thighs around Gaara's neck to avoid falling off. Gaara didn't particularly like this, and was tempted to let the girl fall off, but that would mean that his team lost. And Gaara _never_ lost.

Instead, Gaara stepped forward slowly, the water hindering his leg's movements. Sakura swayed with each step, unsure of what her partner was doing. Temari and Naruto smirked in unison as Gaara made his way over to them, but Naruto didn't expect Gaara to step on his foot.

"Ow!" the blonde boy shouted, hopping on his uninjured foot while keep Temari on his shoulders. "Gaara, that's cheating!" he said, lowering back down onto two feet again. But Gaara didn't respond. Instead, he tugged on Sakura's knees, causing her to fly forward straight into Temari, who was having enough trouble staying on Naruto's shoulders.

Gaara stepped back again and watched in silent triumph as Temari and Naruto both toppled over, falling into the cold water with a loud splash. Sakura cheered; she had just regained her balance. The peaceful balance didn't last long, though, because Gaara let go of her knees and allowed her to slip off his back down into the water.

"Gaara!" Sakura sputtered when she resurfaced. "What the hell? That was so totally uncalled for!"

Gaara turned to smirk at her and said, "Haruno, it's called swimming for a reason. We've been out in the water for 10 or 15 minutes, but you're swimsuit was previously dry. Why's it called a swimsuit if you aren't going to swim?" Gaara grinned evilly at Sakura, and she twitched.

"THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU HAVE TO DUMP ME OFF YOUR SHOULDERS LIKE A BAG OF GARBAGE!" she roared, shaking her fists menacingly. Water flew off her pale skin, and dripped off of her drenched hair. Taking a deep breath, Sakura submerged herself again and fixed her hair so that it was not such a mess. Gaara noticed this and mentally chuckled.

"Haruno," he said, a smirk still shadowing his lips, "why don't we race down into the deeper end? There's supposed to be an island out in the middle of the lake; let's see who can get there first."

Sakura turned in the water and stuck her nose into the air. "No! I don't believe you if you say there's an island out there, and even if you could provide proof, I wouldn't race you!" Gaara raise an eyebrow at the girl, and Temari and Naruto burst out laughing. Gaara turned to glare at the two, and they shut up. If Sakura didn't want to race...well, he was sure he could work around it.

"Fine," he said. "I'm going to go back to the cabins now," he told Temari. Temari nodded and did not question her brother, she already had her suspicions. Sakura snuck a glance at the red-head as she walked back to the beach, but pretended to still have her nose in the air.

"Come on, Sakura," Temari said, sighed. The girl had just popped up out of the water right next to Sakura. "Let's gather everyone up and head back to the cabins too. Maybe we'll find time to go hiking or something." Sakura shrugged her shoudlers and followed Temari.

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Sakura was about to walk into her cabin when she felt a pair of eyes watching her. Turning her head in all directions, the girl looked for the owner of the eyes, but because it was dark she couldn't see anything. Shrugging, the girl opened the cabin door and took her spot on the farthest side of the bed.

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OMG, I'm SO sorry this chapter was short. I wanted to start off the next one in a different view, and I couldn't think of anything else. I'm getting so into my Vampire Knight story, too, so I'm spending most of my time on that.

I'm so proud to annnounce that this story has reached its 100 review checkpoint! Over 6000 people have read this story, too! I'm so happy! I shall work hard for all of you, my wonderful readers!


	13. Chapter 13

Ack. Grr. I don't like the way this story is going, and I want to end it soon. So, I'm sorry if this chap seems rushed, I want to get a lot in it. Try to put something humorous in each review, please. I need a REALLY good laugh. My best friend is ill, and I haven't gotten to see her in 2 whole days. 2 WHOLE DAYS! That's like, an eternity for me. My science teacher thinks we have a symbiotic relationship. If you don't know what a symbiotic relationship is, I looked it up on the dictionary link.

Symbiotic: (def.); Relying on, or subject to, something else for support; not able to exist or sustain itself, or be able to perform anything, without the will, power, or aid of something else. Opposite of independent. (I shortened it to understandable lengths.)

In other words, if my bestest friend in the world Rachel skips 2 days of school, my world is a living hell, and I become a stoic, bitchy, easily angered body that will harm anything that annoys it.

Go Rachel.

Luckily, I should be able to see her tonight, and, using my charm and wonderful personality, I shall charm her mother into letting her spend the night. Good plan, right? Ah, I shall get on to the story.

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Sakura's eyes flew open. The cabin was very dark, and she could feel Gaara's measured breathing coming form beside her. It was still outside, so what had woken her up from such a peaceful slumber?

Another pebble hit the window, and Sakura jumped in surprise. Gaara seemed unaffected, luckily. Rising from the bed as quietly as she could, Sakura tiptoed over to the window and looked out into the clearing. The mysterious guy she had met out in the woods the other day was standing out near the firepit, thowing a pebble up in the air and catching it with a snap of his hand. Sakura didn't want him to wake up Gaara, so she hurried to put on her shoes and opened the cabin door.

"Can I help you?" she asked. She was still tired from her lack of sleep.

"You didn't come to visit me," a cold voice retorted. Sakura shivered and replied, "Well, I'm sorry, but I guess it just slipped my mind. I got in a lot of problem, you know, and I was afraid to leave by myself in case I got into even _more_ trouble."

"So?" Sakura could tell the boy was smirking. _What is he planning?_

"Um...excuse me. I forgot your name--"

"Sasuke."

"Right! So, um, Sasuke...was there something you wanted? I mean, why did you want me to meet you?"

Sasuk walked towards Sakura, his head bowed down so that he was looking at the ground. Sakura stood frozen to the ground. She was helpless as Sasuke's hand came up and swept a lock of her stray hair away from her eyes, tucking it back behind her ear.

"I just wanted to talk with you," Sasuke said softly, finally looking up with warm, honest eyes.

"O-oh," Sakura's voice came back. "Alright then! But, let's not hang around here, I don't want anyone to wake up because of me. Um, do you know what time it is?" Sakura asked shyly.

Sasuke glanced at an invisible watch on his wrist. "Um, yeah. It's time for you to go see what time it is, because I have no clue." Sakura giggled at Sasuke joke, and held up one finger to tell him to wait outside for her. Opening the cabin door quietly, Sakura tiptoed back over to the side of her bed and rummaged in her back pack for her watch. Pulling it out, she strapped it on after looking at the time. A little before 4:30 in the morning; she had plenty of time to goof off with Sasuke.

Sakura jumped out of the cabin and walked over to Sasuke. "Where to?" she asked, completely unconcerned that she was heading off with an (almost) complete stranger. Sasuke gave a small smile and held out his hand, motioning for her to take it.

After shooting Sasuke a quick glance, Sakura took his hand lightly, and Sasuke pulled her off to the path leading to the beach. Sakura tripped a few times in the dark, but Sasuke was always there to catch her.

"Sasuke?" Sakura finally asked, "Where are we going?"

Sasuke glanced at the girl before looking back in front of him and replied, "The beach. I hope it's alright with you."

Sakura smiled warmly. "It's fine. I love swimming, anyway!"

"That's good. It's probably a bad idea to swim this early in the morning, though."

"Eh? Why?"

"The water is really cold, and if you go really far out, it'll paralyze you. There's an island out in the middle of the lake--"

"Oh!" Sakura piped in. "I remember the island! Gaara wanted to race me to it!"

Sasuke suddenly turned to Sakura and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Don't _EVER_ go to that island. One year, a boy swam out to it, but he never made it back. I'm _sure _you can imagine why he didn't come back. I don't want that to happen to you!" Sasuke pulled Sakura to him and hugged her tightly.

Sakura blinked. _A kid died out there? But...why'd Gaara want to race me there? Did he know?_

_**Probably! **_Inner Sakura said. _**That dumbass is always torturing us and stuff! He wouldn't care if we died! **_

_That's not true! _Sakura thought fiercely.

"Sakura..." Sasuke's voice drifted to her ears. Sasuke was looking at her with concern in her eyes. "Sakura, please promise me you won't go to that island. Bad things happen out there..."

Sakura took Sasuke's hands in her own and squeezed them. "Sasuke, I promise I won't go out there." Sasuke nodded in agreement, and Sakura let go of his hands. A sudden impulse made Sakura look at her watch.

"Eh???? It's that late already? How in hell?"

"Sakura," Sasuke said calmly. "If you need to go, go. I'll see you later." With that, Sasuke wandered off hte path and disappeared into the trees, but not before waving goodbye to his newest friend.

Sakura groaned and started running. How had she and Sasuke spend that much time just _talking_? It was a mystery, that was for sure. But Sakura was sure of one thing...

She did NOT want to catch Temari's wrath _again_.

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Gome! I am really late updating this, and it's really short too. But, my VK story is going well! Please check it out!


	14. Chapter 14

Alright, Tuesday is my last match for volleyball. I have one practice on the Monday before it, and then I'm done! But, then I have Spell Bowl and youth group on Wednesdays, piano on Thursdays, and Spell Bowl on Fridays. I'm a busy girl! So, I'm probably not going to update much, and when I do update, it'll probably be early in the week or on weekends, when I have tons of free time.

Just thought I'd tell you that. Not that you'd care.

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Sakura was so relieved to see that only a few early-risers were up when she got back to the cabins. Sneaking back into the cabin she shared with Gaara, Sakura was surprised to see the red-head sitting at the "kitchen table", drinking a Gatorade.

"Morning!" Sakura greeted cheerfully. "It's really nice out today! I hope we have a good practice today!"

"Hn," was her reply.

"Gaara, you're not a morning person, are you?" Sakura asked sympathetically, cocking her hip to one side and placing a hand on it.

"No." This time the response was muttered, and Sakura had to resist the urge to pester her roommate about his too-quiet voice.

"Well, I guess I can't complain," Sakura sighed. She didn't like being woken up early in the morning.

"Where were you?" Gaara asked unexpectedly.

"Eh? Oh, I just went out for a quick walk, but I was more careful with my time this time!" Sakura seemed proud of herself for being on time today. She turned to sit down on the bed, and was surprised when a pair of strong arms cradled her close to a warm body. When had Gaara gotten up? And how had he moved that fast?

"I thought I told you not to go out walking because of that damned shady figure stalking around the campgrounds?" Gaara asked in a super sweet voice, his breath tickling Sakura's ear. Sakura thought that his voice sounded a bit strained. Since when did he care about her wellbeing?

"I was fine. I had someone go with me!" Sakura said defensively, and then she froze when she realized what she had admitted. Gaara, too, froze, and his voice was harsh when he asked, "Who went with you?"

Sakura stuttered. "U-um, N-Naruto came b-by and asked i-if I wanted t-to go on a walk w-with him."

"Naruto?" Gaara was surprised. He hadn't told Naruto to go on a walk with Sakura. If he remembered correctly, he had ordered a dark-haired, brooding Uchiha to do it. Mentally growling, he thought of how you had to do everything yourself if you wanted a plan to work out correctly. Sighing, he released Sakura, much to the girl's pleasure, and muttered, "Well, as long as you were with someone trustable."

Sakura innerly breathed a sigh of relief when Gaara let go of her. Her inner self was complaining about it, but Sakura had other things on her mind. "Um, hey Gaara," she asked shyly. the redhead turned to her, and she continued, "What's the story behind that island you were telling me about? I mean Sas-- um, Naruto-- was telling me that I should never go out there, but you wanted to race me to it. What's up with that?"

Gaara lied when he said emotionlessly, "I have no clue. I haven't heard any odd stories about the island." He hadn't caught the beginning of Sasuke's name in Sakura's speech, so he was perturbed when the girl mentioned the island. Had Naruto taken over Sasuke's role? That wouldn't work! _Those dumbasses, they are in for a rude awakening when I get my hands around their throats. They're going to ruin the whole prank!_

"Oh," Sakura said softly. "Well then. Temari's probably up, so I'm going to wait outside. See ya later." Gaara gave an acknowledging nod, and Sakura stepped out the cabin door she had entered only minutes before.

Gaara sighed and rubbed his temples when the pink-haired girl was gone. He hadn't put this much effort into a prank ever before, and the effects were showing. He was going to have to fix all the little patches, and maybe even revise a few parts. Where the hell were Shikamaru and al of the other great pranksters when he needed them? Oh, yeah. They weren't stuck on a field trip for their sister's volleyball team.

Gaara envied those damn guys. They had it easy, or at least easier than him. Sighing, he grabbed the rest of his Gatorade and stepped outside into the cold morning air. At least he was enjoying the physical activity he was getting. That was just about the _only_ good thing, though.

--------------------0.0

Sakura whimpered. The red on her back really, really hurt! So what if she had forgot to put sunscreen on for the past three days? She shouldn't have to go through this torture!

Tenten spread the white sunscreen lotion over her friend's back, hearing the small noises of displeasure being thrown back at her. "Geez, Sakura, you really did it this time, didn't you?" she half-laughed. Sakura hissed when Tenten applied more pressure than necessary.

"Shut up, Tenten, or you'll be next on my death list!" the pink-haired girl threatened.

Tenten laughed. "Behind who?" she teased.

"Um, the sun, Gaara, Temari, Gaara, and the company that makes deficent sunblock!"

"You listed Gaara twice," Tenten pointed out. "And besides, the company's sunblock is perfectly fine, you just forgot to put it on!"

"So?" Sakura pouted. She didn't like to be proved wrong, even though it happened frequently.

Tenten sighed, the girl was acting like a big baby. A sudden thought struck the brunette. "Hey! You know what? We only have one more night here! We're leaving to go back to Konoha tomorrow!"

Sakura looked up and the sky, shielding her eyes form the harsh, glaring sun. "Really? It doesn't seem like it's been 5 days yet."

"Yeah," Tenten said softly. They only had one more night, so if they were going to pull off the prank, it had to be that night. _Gaara better be getting his butt in gear! _the girl thought menacingly.

Suddenly, Sakura stood up and pointed towards the lake. "I'll race you to the water!" she shouted, and then sped off towards the blue liquid. Tenten smiled and threw the sunblock aside, rising to her feet to follow her friend.

_I almost feel guilty about it all..._

0.0---------------------

Sakura stretched and rubbed her back. Her other team mates were still gathering their practice items. Temari had switched up the practice schedule, so they had had practice in the afternoon instead of in the morning. Sakura had been glad for the change in pace, but her feet were really killing her, and she just wanted to go back to the cabins and curl up in bed. Although, the bed would be a lot more appealing if Gaara wasn't in it _with _her.

The walk back to the cabins didn't seem to be a pleasant one. Sakura wanted to get back quickly, but everyone was being poky tonight, and Sakura didn't want to wait for them. Deciding that they would always catch up, the pinkette quickly stepped down the path, into the dark, shrouded shadows created by a full moon and the hauntingly creepy trees. Had they had an extra long practice today? Or had the sun just decided to set hours earlier today?

As Sakura stumbled down the dirt path, she vaguely wondered if she looked like she was drunk. That would be hilarious! She probably _could_ pass as under the influence. But actually having to drink first would be much funner. Sakura had tasted alcohol before, and even though she had hated the taste, she realized it was an acquired one.

Huh? What was that? A rustle in the bushes? Had one of her teammates stepped off of the path to scare her?

"Hello?" Sakura called out timidly. No response. Scoffing, the girl said, "If that's you, Tenten, I will _seriously_ murder you!"

Again, no response, but Sakura could have _sworn_ the bushes moved just a little. "Temari? Hinata? Gaara? Come out, you losers. Stop joking around."

"I'm _hardly_ joking around," a voice said from behind her. Sakura spun on the balls of her feet. There stood Sasuke, leaning nonchalantly against a tree trunk. Sakura had to squint to figure out why he looked so shiny in the moonlight. The dark-haired boy was _soaking_ wet.

"S-sasuke?" Sakura whimpered. The boy took a step forward, and Sakura could see the cold, unfeeling malice that resided in his usually emotionless eyes.

"Sakura..." Sasuke purred. Sakura shivered at the sound of the other's voice. Sasuke kept taking steps closer to her, but Sakura could not move. She was frozen with fear, or maybe she was just waiting to see what the boy would do. He hadn't hurt her before, but those _eyes_. They seriously creeped her out!

"S-sasuke, what's g-going on?" Sakura managed to stutter out. Some inner part of her was laughing at how much she sounded like Hinata, but Sakura shut the inner self up and focused on the boy that was creeping like a predator to its prey.

"Sakura, did you ever wonder why I told you not to go to that island?" Sasuke purred, completely ignoring Sakura's question. He was now close enough to raise a hand, cupping Sakura's pale cheek lightly. When Sakura was too terrified to respond, he continued, "It's because I didn't want you to _die_."

"D-die? What do you mean die?" Sakura squeaked. She still could not move away from Sasuke's caress.

Sasuke leaned forward, both hands cupping the girl's cheeks, and whispered into her ear, "Sakura, I _died_ at that island. I don't want you to have the same fate. It's scary what a few slippery rocks can do in the middle of night, right _Sakura_?"

Sakura shook her head, small whimpering sounds coming from her lips. "Y-you're s-standing r-r-right in front of m-me. You're n-not d-dead!"

Sasuke ran a fingernail up Sakura's windpipe, an evil, sadistic grin on his handsome face. "Oh, but I am," he said, no evidence of a seducive purr on his voice. "And if you don't run, I might just take your life too." Leaning in, Sasuke treasured the frightened look on Sakura's face at his last statement. "_Run_, Haruno, _run_ if you want to live."

Sasuke pulled away and tapped a pale finger to his wrist. "Time, Sakura. Time isn't always on your side. If you cherish your life, run."

And Sakura ran.

--------------------

Wow, like, why did I stop? I can't remember why I stopped. In fact, I had good intentions to finish the whole story in this chapter, but I tihnk I'll sum it up in 2 more chapters. So, cherish these last few chapters, people!


	15. Chapter 15

Wow. I seriously hope I get more reviews than that! So, after this, one more chapter! Technically, it'll be the chapter that tells how this story got its name. I like to do that. I find myself wondering how I can fit the title into the story itself, which it why my titles are always weird sounding. XD

I shall dedicate this chapter to the small pile of chocolate in my tummy! XD It helped me stay away long enough to type this chapter!

--------XD---------

Sakura had never felt so terrified in her life. She ran as fast as her wobbly legs would let her. To where she ran, she had no idea. She had just taken off, eager to get away from the (supposedly dead) Sasuke and his not-so-subtle threats. Sakura's tears ran freely down her face, and she cried out when she tumbled, tripping over a root from a nearby tree. Muddied, Sakura remembered the time Gaara had caught her as she tripped over a root. Shaking off the memory, the pinkette got back on her tired feet and continued down the path.

When had things gotten so complicated? Why had she followed that stupid Sasuke in the first place? Where was her team when she needed them?

Sakura gasped, her lungs burning. Where _was_ her team? God, the messes she got into. If she had known this would have happened, she wouldn't have come on the stupid trip! Was this some sort of stupid punishment for a stupid mistake she never even made? She had always thought she had a boring life, but the minute things get interesting, she almost gets killed!

Sakura slowed to a walk, her thoughts calming down. So, what to do now? She had run blindly, so she had no idea where she was. She didn't know where Sasuke was, so she had to keep her guard up, incase he decided to pop. She also had no clue where any of her teammates were. Sakura was _really _in a fix.

**Well, it could be worse! **a voice offered from inside her head.

_Oh really? How?_

**You could be dead already!**

_Yes, I suppose that __would __be worse._

**See!**

_Hey, this all looks familiar! I think we might be somewhere around the cabins._

**Hey! Lookie! There's someone in the clearing! They're just standing there! **Inner Sakura was celebrating, but Sakura had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Sakura stumbled into the clearing, her ankle hurting and mud covering the front of her practice clothes and a little of her legs and arms. Inner Sakura was right, there was someone standing in the middle of the clearing, near the firepit. Sakura stopped a few yards form the person and had to squint to make out their identity.

"G-Gaara?" she asked calmly, though the stutter in her voice betrayed her true feelings.

"Haruno," Gaara replied. The boy's voice was as calm as Sakura's, but it held no emotions.

Sakura felt her eyes water, and she began to cry. The day's events came crashing down on her, and she could not hold in her emotions any longer. "Gaara, I'm really sorry! I didn't listen to you, and I talked with a complete stranger. Remember when I told you I went on a walk with Naruto? Well, I was lying and I really went on a walk with the stranger that I had met and I didn't want you to know for some reason! I thought the guy was nice so I trusted him, but as I was walking back here he appeared out of nowhere and threatened to kill me, and he was acting all weird and was touching my face and I couldn't stand it! He told me to run if I valued my life so I ran and ran and finally found my way back here and I'm really, _really _sorry!"

By the end of her speech Sakura was crying fiercefully, and she ran over to Gaara and clung to him, trying her best to give him a hug and find comfort from his warm body. "B-but, the worst thing was that he told me he was dead! Dead! I was hanging around a dead guy! Oh Gaara!" Sakura cried out into the night, body shaking heavily from exertion.

Long, thin, pale arms came up and snaked their way around Sakura's back, drawing her to the warm body she was currently clinging to. Sakura burst into another round of tears, not seeming to care that they were falling on Gaara's clothes, and that they could possibly leave a stain. "Sakura, it's alright, none of it's real," a gentle voice told her.

Sakura gasped and looked up into Gaara's face. "What do you mean none of it's real! It's as real as real can get! I wasn't hallucinating!" Sakura was shaking profusely again, and Gaara frowned.

"Sakura, it's alright. I promise." Geez, if he'd known she'd be _this_ emotional...

Sakura seemed to calm down a bit. "Gaara, I was so frightened...I didn't know a person could be that scared in their life!"

"Sakura, do you remember at the beginning of the year, when Temari warned you about the upcoming prank? Well, here it is. Haruno, you've been pranked."

Sakura froze. This was the prank. "The hell! You! You! DUMBASSES! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING? I WAS SCARED HALF TO DEATH! YOU FUCKING MORONS! I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU IN THAT SITUATION! MY GOD, I THINK I'M GOING TO HAVE A BLEEDIN' HEART ATTACK!" Sakura blew up in Gaara's arms, throwing all off the taunts she could think of at him. "DO YOU KNOW HOW FUCKING SCARED I WAS? I WILL NEVER FUCKING FORGIVE YOU!"

"You won't forgive us?" Gaara's voice was soft and tender, and made Sakura stop crying for just a moment. He sounded..._sad_.

"N-no," Sakura lied. She knew she'd somehow manage to forgive everyone some day, because it was not like her to hold grudges. "I'll never forgive you! This prank was way too much!"

"We thought so too!" a timid voice came from behind Sakura's back. The pinkette wiggled out of Gaara's grasp to face the entire shame-faced team. Each member had a guilty look on their face, and a few were crying. Hinata was being held by the shoulders by Tenten, who was rushing comforting words into the nervous girl's ears quietly.

Temari took a few steps to stand in front of Sakura. Without warning, she enveloped the girl in a massive hug. "I'm really, really sorry about this Sakura!" the older girl said. "It's a tradition to play pranks on the newest team members, but we never knew it would go this far!"

"It...It's okay. I guess...I was too shocked...I just now remembered what you told me about the prank...it's my fault I forgot...I should have been expecting this." Sakura tried her best to comfort her captain.

"So, you don't hate us anymore?" one of the girls asked. She looked frightened, as though she were expecting a bad answer.

Sakura managed a smile chuckle and a smile. "No, not hate. I still loathe your idea of a prank, but as long as you never do it again, I suppose I can call it a truce."

A cheer, and then everyone in the clearing broke out into smiles. Even Gaara managed a curve of the lips. As Sakura was surrounded by her friends, she sighed with happiness. The prank had been cruel, but it had brought her closer to her teammates. Even Gaara had shown a somewhat affectionate side to her.

After a ton of partying, Sakura went to bed later that night very satisfied. She closed her eyes, and was just about to drift into sleep when she felt Gaara slide under the blankets next to her. A pair of arms slipped around her, encasing her in a loose, loving embrace. Sakra gave a small sigh of contentment before sleep fully claimed her.

--awwww--

Sakura heaved her backpack onto her shoulder as she waited for the bus doors to open. She dreaded the ride, but was still eager to get on the bus. She was looking forward to going home; last's night's activities had drained her, and even with a night's sleep, she hadn't fully recovered from the shock.

**You have to admit, waking up in Gaara's arms was the highlight of the morning! **Inner Sakura giggled.

_Shut up! _Sakura shot back, a small blush gracing her cheeks.

**Even if you say that, you know it's true!**

_I'm going to ignore you now._

**Fine. You do that.**

Sakura stepped onto the bus, looking for a place to sit. She was immediately pulled into the first seat, and found herself sitting next to Gaara. "U-um, hello," she said, a bit surprised by the boy's quick actions.

Gaara just gave her a cool gaze and explained, "I figured you'd want to sleep in peace. I doubt you'd get any peace back there." Gaara head tilted towards the back of the bus, and Sakura blinked. _How'd he know I wanted to get some sleep?_

"Oh." Sakura's reply was short, and she leaned her head back against the bus seat, using the leather-like plastic as a pillow. But after about 5 minutes of that position, her neck began to ache. The bumps from the bus riding over rocky, uneven terrain didn't help any either. Sakura tried to let her head hang as she sought out sweet, blissful peace, but that made her neck ache too.

"Eh?" For the second time, Sakura felt herself being pulled. Her head landed on Gaara's chest, and she could feel Gaara's smirk, even though she couldn't see it.

"That better?"

"Um, yes?" Sakura offered half-heartedly. She unconsciously snuggled closer so that she wasn't so stretched out. Amazingly, sleep claimed her, despite the bumps and the shrieks and conversations coming from the back of the bus. Gaara _was _smirking, and he pulled the girl closer to him. Who knew he'd develop these sorts of emotions for the little cherry blossom?

As Gaara watched the woman in his lap sleep, he couldn't help but compare her to an angel. _His _angel. Yes, _his_. He liked the sound of that.

Gaara's little cherry blossom angel.

-----------------0.0

Now, raise of hands! Who _wouldn't_ want to be called Gaara's little angel? Nobody? I DIDN'T THINK SO! LOL!

One more chapter! Plz review!


	16. Chapter 16

Woot! Last chapter! I luv all you faithful reviewers who have supported me through this entire story! hands out cookies

----TT----

Sakura watched as Tenten's serve went in a high arc and came down unto the opposing side. Hinata bumped it to Kale, who set it for Ino, and Ino spiked it down. Serena dug the spike from her vantage point in the middle front, and Hari set the dig. Sakura rushed forward and tipped it. Unfortunately, Ino had blocked it, and it came right back down towards Sakura.

Serena saved Sakura's butt by digging the ball for a second time. Hari shouted for help; she didn't think she could get to the ball because Serena had unconsciously stepped in her way. Sakura set the ball, but it went a little to far for Hari to spike or tip, so Tenten claimed it as hers, and bumped it over.

Hinata bumped the ball to be set by Kale, who set it for Ino again. Ino tipped it, copying Sakura's movement, and Serena dug the tip. Hari bump-set the ball to Sakura, who started to do her approach for a spike, but on her second step, her ankle gave out and she fell to the ground.

"Ouch! Shit!" Sakura shouted. Her shout echoed in the gym, and immediately her teammates rushed over to see what was wrong. Temari dropped her clipboard on a bleacher as she jogged over to see her team member.

"Sakura, what's wrong?" Temari asked. Her tone was authorative, and it made her sound like the volleyball captain she was.

"My ankle feels like it's sprained," Sakura said through gritted teeth. She was holding on to her ankle and trying her best not to cry in front of the team. She had already cried enough on the night they played the prank on her.

"Gaara, get over here. Take Sakura to the hospital and get her ankle checked out."

"W-what? No! I don't need to go to the hospital!" Sakura stuttered, but it was no use. Temari silenced her with one of her famous glares, and that was the end of that.

Gaara sauntered over to the group and helped Sakura up off the floor and let her lean against him as they made their way out of the gym. Sakura told Tenten to grab her bag and keep it until tomorrow before she left.

Gaara guided Sakura silently to his car. Sakura didn't really care what kind it was; she wasn't one of those car maniacs who memorized the names of each kind of car in the world. After Sakura was settled in the passenger seat, Gaara made his way to the driver's seat.

"Um, Gaara, are you even old enough to drive?" Sakura asked as the boy started the engine. "Or, rather, do you have your license yet?"

"No," he stated simply, pulling out from the parking spot. Sakura seemed to bug out at that, so he continued, "I have a special permit that lets me drive on an emergency, like when someone on the team in injured and Temari makes them go to the hospital. I'm pretty sure all captains and co-captains are required to have them if the team doesn't have an official coach."

"Oh," Sakura said quietly. The pain was starting to subside, and she could feel her foot going numb. "Um, is my foot supposed to be numb?"

Gaara gave Sakura an inquisitive glance. "No, it's suppose to hurt like hell. Are you cutting off your circulation?"

"Hehe," Sakura giggled, letting go of her ankle. Her foot got pins-and-needles, and she immediately wished she had kept her grip. Luckily for her, the hospital was only a few miles down the road from the school. Gaara pulled into the parking lot, and proceded to turn off the car, get out, and help Sakura out.

In the lobby, Gaara reported a sprained ankle, and the lady behind the counter nodded, pointing to two empty seats across the room. Gaara sat Sakura down in a seat, but preferred to stand guard beside her. They waited for a good ten minutes or so, before the door to the hospital halls opened and a tall, handsome doctor stepped into the lobby.

"I have a case of a sprained ankle?" he asked, looking around the room. Sakura raised her hand, and the doctor nodded, beckoning for her to follow him. Sakura leaned on Gaara as the two followed the doctor down to the very back of the hallway. They entered an office-like room, and the doctor motioned to a table for Sakura to sit on, and a chair in the corner for Gaara. Sakura was lifted onto the table by Gaara, and the doctor immediately began testing her ankle.

After a questionnaire and two x-rays later, Sakura and Gaara were left alone in the room while the doctor developed the x-rays.

"Feeling better?" Gaara asked.

"A little," Sakura admitted. An awkward silence, and then Sakura asked, "So, why did Temari tell you to take me to the hospital? I could have just sat on the bleachers for the rest of practice."

Gaara gave a slight shrug. "That's what I'm here for. Temari likes to use me as a chaffeur for her precious little team members."

"Eh? Is it right to use your boyfriend like that?"

Gaara froze. _What_ did she just say? "Um, I don't think you get it. Temari and I aren't going out."

"Oh. Did you guys break up?" Sakura asked innocently.

Gaara couldn't help it. He laughed. "Haruno, Temari and I can't date each other. We're _siblings_. That's incest."

"WHAT?! YOU TWO ARE SIBLINGS?"

"Uh, yes. Isn't it obvious?"

"No! It's the farthest from!"

"That's funny, that you thought Temari and I were going out."

Sakura was silent. Let Gaara laugh. Breaking the silence, she asked, "So, _are_ you going out with anyone?"

Gaara shook his head no, and Inner Sakura let out a triumphant yelp.

"Alright, Ms. Haruno, it looks like you have a minor sprain," the doctor said as he entered the room once more. "You'll need to wrap it and walk with crutches for a while, but after that it should be good as new! I'll just wrap it for you and rent you out some crutches, and then you can go home!"

---ummmm---

"Hey, Haruno, are you going to need a ride to school every day now?" Temari asked from within her car window. Sakura start to shake her head no, but then thought better of it.

"I guess it couldn't hurt," she said dubiously, as though she wasn't quite sure with herself.

"Kay then! I'll pick you up at 7:30 A.M. tomorrow!" Temari waved as she drove off. Sakura waved back ,and gave Gaara a small smile before she ascended the stairs to her front door. Maybe, just maybe, this injury could be a good thing...

-----stfu-----

Alrighty! So, the ending was kinda weak, and not what I had planned (as usual). For those of you who couldn't figure it out, Sakura and Gaara are now happily going out, and the question popped up as Gaara was driving Sakura back to the practice to pick up Temari. Happy endings rock!


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